Letter to Katherine Archuleta, Director of the Office of Personnel Management - Constituents Deserve Answers on Data Breach

Letter

Director Archuleta:

I am writing as a follow up to my letter to you dated June 8, 2015, in light of new developments regarding the data breach.

In recent days media reports have emerged indicating that the breach announced in OPM's June 4th press release was actually two breaches: one impacting the data of federal employees and a second breach specifically affecting applicants for security clearances. Additionally, these reports strongly suggest that the personal data of employment applications going as far back as the 1980s may have been exposed in the breach. This new information raises the number of those current and former federal employees potentially affected by the breach from 4 million to tens of millions.

My constituents have been contacting my office to express their frustration about the lack of sufficient information coming out of OPM on this highly pressing matter. They have shared their concerns about the difficulty of being able to reach someone at OPM to answer their urgent questions.

I am writing this letter on behalf of the thousands of current and former federal employees I count among my constituents and millions more around the country who are potentially affected by this breach. We want to know what immediate steps OPM is taking to facilitate the answering of the many questions we have regarding this matter.

In that regard, the June 4th OPM press release indicated that a year of free credit monitoring and up to $1 million in liability protection would be provided to those affected by the breach. Will the same protections be extended to all who are potentially impacted including annuitants and their families, current and former job applicants, those seeking clearances and contractors?

I look forward to your response.

Sincerely yours,

Chris Van Hollen
Member of Congress

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