Update to Congress on OPM cyber breach goes on without three key agencies

House Armed Services Committee members on Tuesday learned new information about the cyber attack impacting more than 22 million federal employees, but the information didn’t come from three key agencies.

Reps. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), chairman of the committee, and Adam Smith (D-Wash.), committee ranking member, said in a release the Office of Management and Budget, the Homeland Security Department and the Office of Personnel Management decided not to testify when they found out the meeting would be on the record and transcribed.

“OPM, Homeland Security and OMB’s last-minute refusal to appear before this committee is unacceptable. Their excuse, that the testimony would be on the record, is disturbing,” Thornberry said. “The committee transcribes classified briefings regularly. Let me be clear; this briefing covers the largest government data breach in history. The overwhelming victims of the breach are our troops and the DoD civilians who work to support them — not to mention the force protection implications from a breach of personally identifiable information of their family members and dependents.”

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, DoD and the Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence did provide information during the classified briefing.

“I appreciated the opportunity to hear from DoD, ODNI and USDI witnesses who were able to speak to the Department of Defense business and personnel equities,” Smith said. “[I] t is imperative that we hear from all the agencies involved, as we move forward to address network intrusion and institute policies to decrease the likelihood that such a breach will occur again.”

A joint statement from OMB, DHS and OPM says the agencies have conducted more than a dozen classified briefings and participated in open hearings since May.

“Unfortunately, we were unable to accommodate a last-minute change in the request today,” the statement said. “We look forward to working with our partners in Congress for a briefing in the future.”

A committee staff member questioned why the administration would have objections to a transcribed hearing. The staff member said the White House has not explained why having a court reporter in the room would be a problem.

The reason for the latest classified briefing is because the committee wanted more details on the breach and the aftermath because DoD has spent more than $178 million to protect its employees from the hack.

“There is no excuse at all for being unwilling to explain on the record about how the breach happened and what we are doing to prevent another one. What could they possibly have to hide? What a disservice to the men and women who placed their trust in these agencies,” Thornberry said. “Members of the Congress have an obligation to understand this serious issue. We have a role to play in preventing another breach. We owe it to our constituents, our troops and their families to be careful stewards of this matter, and we will not stop until we get the information we are owed.”

DoD asked Congress for permission to reprogram funding two separate times, $132 million in August and another $45 million in October.

DoD also is playing a big role in notifying victims of the breach. The Defense Information Systems Agency awarded a $1.8 million contract to Advanced Onion to develop website where potential victims can check to see if their information has been stolen.

A committee staff member said Thornberry has several concerns including whether or not the administration has got a handle on the reforms to the security clearance process. The staff member also said the chairman wants more details on how the entire DoD workforce — civilians and uniformed members and their families — are impacted by this breach.

Read all of Federal News Radio’s coverage of the OPM Cyber Breach

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