Missouri governor, staff use secretive app to communicate

JEFFERSON CITY (AP) — Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens and his senior staff are using a secretive app that erases messages after they're read.

The Kansas City Star reports that use of the Confide app by the governor and some of his top advisers is raising concerns that it could be used to undermine open records laws. But it's unclear whether the governor and his staff are using the app for state business, personal use or campaign work.

The app deletes messages and prevents recipients from saving, forwarding, printing or taking screenshots of messages.

Greitens' spokesman Parker Briden told the Kansas City Star that he doesn't believe anyone downloaded Confide on a state-issued device.

Alex Howard of the Sunlight Foundation says using the app for public business would shield that work from valuable public oversight.