The head of the US government’s personnel office is rejecting bipartisan calls for her resignation following revelations that hackers stole the personal information of more than 21 million people on her watch.
US Office of Personnel Management director Katherine Archuleta said she has no plans to step down and is committed to continuing her work. The White House, which had previously said US President Barack Obama was confident in Archuleta’s leadership, said there was no change in its position.
The escalating calls for Archuleta to be replaced came as the Obama administration disclosed on Thursday that the number of people affected by the breach — believed to be the biggest in US history — was far higher than previously reported.
Hackers downloaded social security numbers, health histories or other highly sensitive data from the office’s databases, affecting more than five times the 4.2 million people the government first disclosed this year. Since then, the administration acknowledged a second, related breach of systems housing private data that individuals submit during background investigations to obtain security clearances.
Although the government declined to name the hackers, officials said the same party was responsible for both breaches. Numerous US lawmakers who have been briefed on the federal investigation have pointed the finger at China.
Word that the breach was far more severe than previously acknowledged drew indignation from members of US Congress who have said the administration has not done enough to protect personal data in their systems, as well as calls for Archuleta and her top deputies to resign.
US House of Representatives Republican leaders called for Archuleta’s resignation, with Speaker of the House John Boehner saying the president must “take a strong stand against incompetence.”
Even some members of Obama’s own party, usually reluctant to criticize the administration, joined the call for Archuleta to go. Democratic Senator Mark Warner decried Archuleta for a “slow and uneven response” that he said had undermined confidence in her abilities.
Among the data the hackers stole were criminal, financial, health, employment and residency histories. The second, larger attack affected more than 19 million people who applied for clearances, as well as nearly 2 million of their spouses, housemates and others.
Archuleta on Thursday said that she would not step down, telling reporters during a conference call: “I am committed to the work that I am doing.”
“I truly understand the impact this has on our current and former employees, our military personnel and our contractors,” she said.
Archuleta said the hackers also obtained user names and passwords that prospective employees used to fill out their background investigation forms, as well as the contents of interviews conducted as part of those investigations. However, the government insisted there were no indications that the hackers have used the data they stole.
Members of Congress including US Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid have said China was behind the attack, and investigators previously told reporters that the US government was increasingly confident that the Chinese government — not criminal hackers — was responsible for the extraordinary theft.
However, Obama’s cybersecurity coordinator Michael Daniel on Thursday said that the government was not ready to say who was responsible.
“Just because we’re not doing public attribution does not mean that we’re not taking steps to deal with the matter,” he said.
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