The head of the US federal hiring office resigned on Friday after massive computer hacks at the agency that put the personal data of more than 22 million Americans at risk, including people seeking sensitive security clearances.
The White House said Katherine Archuleta had stepped down as head of the Office of Personnel Management and that the office was enhancing cybersecurity measures, such as limiting the number of “privileged users” of computer data.
Archuleta, facing a chorus of demands from the US Congress for her ouster, said in a statement she had told US President Barack Obama it was “best for me to step aside and allow new leadership to step in.”
Beth Cobert, who works in the White House budget office, is to become acting office director, the White House said.
The departure of Archuleta will not fix the office’s serious cybersecurity weaknesses, which Obama administration officials conceded would take months, possibly years, to address.
Republicans in Congress accused the administration of being flat-footed on the growing problem of computer hacks. White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters it was conducting a “rapid assessment” of cybersecurity measures with the aim of accelerating improvements.
The latest hacking revelation at the office, revealed on Thursday, followed what the office called a “separate but related” computer incursion involving the theft of data on 4.2 million current and former federal workers.
Because many of the same people were affected by both hacks, the total comes to about 22.1 million people, or almost 7 percent of the US population, making the incidents among the most damaging cybersecurity breaches ever.
Social Security numbers and other sensitive data, including possibly compromising secrets gathered for security clearances, were stolen from the office’s computers in the sweeping intrusions.
The US has identified China as the leading suspect, but the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has dismissed that as “absurd logic.”
Archuleta’s departure came a day after Republican House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner issued a statement saying that he had “no confidence” in the office’s current leadership.
On Friday, Boehner, citing chronic problems at the US Veterans Administration that led to the resignation of former administration secretary Eric Shinseki last year, said a change in personnel did not always lead to real change and Obama had to “repair” the office’s problems.
Archuleta, a high-ranking official in Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign, was appointed to the job in May 2013 and sworn in the following November, becoming the first Latina to head the federal agency.
The computer hacks, coupled with computer glitches this week that disrupted operations at both the New York Stock Exchange and United Airlines, have raised serious concerns in Congress about the security of major US computer systems.
In a related matter, arrangements for granting security clearances to employees and contractors have been seriously affected since a computer system used to receive and process applications was turned off temporarily on June 29, government security sources said.
The digital system, called E-QIP, had been the main platform through which applicants submitted detailed information about their background on a questionnaire known as Standard Form 86. The system was shut down for security enhancements.
A source familiar with the process said there were now serious problems handling the flow of paper forms, and concern that digitizing them could expose them to the risk of hacking.
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