Republicans in the Florida congressional delegation are looking for answers after a data breach at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) in which more than 4 million federal employees had their data stolen with many signs pointing to China as the culprit.
On Tuesday, the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held a hearing on the data breach. U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., who is running for the U.S. Senate, called the breach an “unmitigated disaster for U.S. national security” and called out President Barack Obama for not responding adequately.
“The hacking of the personnel records of millions of federal employees -- including those in military and intelligence positions -- represents an unmitigated disaster for U.S. national security,” DeSantis said on Tuesday. “The witnesses before the House Oversight Committee raised more questions than they answered with their testimony. Our adversaries now have access to copious amounts of personnel data that can be used to harm U.S. interests. The administration seems to have no plan to either respond to or mitigate the damage from this cyberattack.”
OPM Director Katherine Archuleta told the committee that OPM had many older computers that were vulnerable -- even as, in recent days, reports emerged that applicants to federal jobs and congressional staffers were also targeted in the cyber attack.
U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Fla., also focused on cybersecurity on Tuesday, taking to the House floor to speak in favor of his amendment to the Intelligence Authorization Act to bring more students in the federal CyberCorps Scholarship for Service program to work on intelligence and cybersecurity matters for Congress. The program gives students scholarships to study cybersecurity in exchange for working for the federal government.
“As we debate this bill today, hackers across the world are trying furiously to break into our cyber networks. And, as we’ve seen in recent weeks, they are occasionally successful, and the consequences can be grave,” Rooney said on the House floor on Tuesday. “For the sake of our national security and our economy, we must work together to improve our cyber capabilities. This will require a stronger, more capable cyber workforce, which our bipartisan amendment will help achieve.”
Rooney’s amendment was adopted by voice vote.
The White House opened the door to sanctioning China for the cyberattacks last week but, on Monday, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest stressed the matter was still being investigated.
“The precise scope of these intrusions continues to be under investigation by the FBI, by DHS, and other technology professionals,” Earnest said on Monday. “And the administration continues to be committed to making sure that we are communicating as much information as possible to those individuals who may have been affected by these particular intrusions.
“At the beginning of last week the administration began notifying some federal employees that their information may have been compromised, and if there is a need for us to communicate with more either current or former federal employees, then we’ll do that,” Earnest added.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
