(CNSNews.com) - When Office of Personnel Management Director Katherine Archuleta testified in the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee last week she said that the personnel records of about 4.2 million current and former federal employees had been “compromised” by a “cyber intrusion” into the OPM’s computer systems.
She also said that “an additional OPM system was compromised.”
“These systems included information based on the background investigations of current, former and prospective federal government employees, as well as other individuals,” Archuleta told the committee under oath.
When Oversight Chairman Jason Chaffetz asked Archuleta whether this included the files on military and CIA personnel, Archuletta gave him an identical answer to each question.
“I would be glad to discuss that in a classified setting,” she said.
Here is part of the exchange between Achuleta in Chaffetz in which Archuleta says she will discuss “in a classified setting” whether the hack involved files of military and CIA personnel:
Chaffetz: Ms. Archuleta, my question for you is how big was this attack? How many federal workers have been compromised? We've heard 4 million, we've heard 14 million. What's the right number? Your microphone, please.
Archuleta: Sorry. During the course of the ongoing investigation into the cyber intrusion of OPM that compromised the current, the personnel records of current and former federal employees that we announced last week, that number is approximately 4.2 million. In addition, in the investigation of that breach, we discovered, as I mentioned in my testimony, an additional OPM system was compromised. And these systems included information based on the background investigations of current, former and prospective federal government employees, as well as other individuals.
Because different agencies feed into OPM background-investigation systems in different ways, we are working with the agencies right now to determine how many of their employees were affected. We do not have that number at this time but we will get back to you once we have more information.
Chaffetz: What's your best estimate? Is the 14 million number wrong or accurate?
Archuleta: As I said before, we do not have an estimate because where this is an ongoing investigation.
Chaffetz: How far back does it go? The information that your telling me--you have former employees, current employees, and potential employees. So, how far back does this information go that was in your system?
Archuleta: Thank you for that question, Mr. Chaffetz. I would have to respond, again, it's because it's an ongoing investigation.
Via: CNS NewsChaffetz: It has nothing to do with impeding an investigation. You should know what information you have and what you don't, so this is not going to slow down any investigation. People have a right to know. The employees have a right to know. How far back does your information database go that was compromised?
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