More than 20 million Americans had their privacy violated in the recent hack. This according to a story in the New York Times, which reports that:
This in addition to:
The compromised information includes:
The head of the OPM has said she is not resigning. As reported by Bridget Bowman at Roll Call:
“I am committed to the work that I am doing at OPM,” Archuleta said on a conference call with reporters after the agency announced Thursday that 22.1 million current, former and prospective federal employees and contractors were affected by two recent data breaches, including members of Congress.
Ms. Archuleta may be “committed” to her work but that doesn’t necessarily mean she knows what to do about this little problem at her agency. As Kaveh Waddell of National Journal reports, OPM:
The thinking here may be something like, “What’s the hurry. Nothing left to protect.”
So, there seems to be no feeling that heads should roll or, even, that some defensive measures be urgently taken.
Does this mean, then, that the U.S. does not plan to retaliate against the hackers? This was an attack, after all. Isn’t a counter-attack justified? Assuming, that is, that we can mount one. And shouldn’t the retaliation be massive, since the point would be both to punish and to deter future attacks? And shouldn’t it be public in some way – even if it is made so by leaks from “administration sources” – so that all the other potential hackers out there will know that if you come after us, we will be coming back at you?
So far, what we hear from Washington in the way of action is a proposal from OPM that:
Surely our enemies tremble.
