The chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee on Tuesday called for a briefing with counterterrorism analysts to discuss ways that data stolen from the Office of Personnel Management may be used in the future.
“One of the things we would like to do [is] be briefed by the National Counterterrorism Center,” said Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis. “I think it’s widely believed that this breach was not really about trying to utilize the personal information for criminal activity… but [is] a breach from a nation-state, really having to do with national security.”
Johnson brought the issue up during a hearing on whether to confirm acting OPM Director Beth Cobert to head the agency on a permanent basis. The agency fell victim to a cybersecurity breach last year that resulted in the theft of classified personnel information of more than 22 million people.
Cobert responded that the agency had been working the NCTC to analyze potential repercussions stemming from the breach, and that she would be “happy to facilitate” the agency’s briefing with the committee.
While the stolen information has not been used yet, analysts fear that it will be used by a state actor like China or Russia to target individuals working in the nation’s intelligence community, or those employed in industries that possess proprietary trade secrets, particularly relating to the defense industry.
OPM has provided several years of free identity theft protection services to those affected by the breach, but done little that is responsive to the intelligence implications.
