Two congressmen are campaigning to take classified data away from the Office of Personnel Management.
“In the wake of the recent data breaches at the OPM that compromised sensitive security clearance information for over 20 million Americans …. We strongly believe that security clearance data — which has been described as ‘crown jewels’ of our national intelligence — should not be protected by OPM, which is neither an intelligence agency nor a defense organization,” wrote Reps. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., and Steve Russell, R-Okla.
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The letter was addressed to David Mader, acting deputy director for management at the Office of Management and Budget. Mader is also serving as the chair of the President’s Suitability and Security Clearance Performance Accountability Council, which is conducting a 90-day review of federal agencies, including the OPM, focused on “information security, governance, policy, and other aspects of the security and suitability determination process.”
“We continue to believe that it is inappropriate in the 21st century for extremely sensitive data of American national security personnel to be housed in an agency without a national security focus,” the congressmen wrote in the letter, which was provided to the Washington Examiner.
They also suggested that the data collected for security clearances was outmoded. “There is an increasing need to reevaluate what type of information we need to store,” the letter stated. “Monitoring for unusual bank or travel activity can often tell us more information about a person than their neighbors and addresses for the past 10 years. The antiquated SF-86 should be modernized for 21st century threats.”
If their request is not fulfilled bureaucratically, the lawmakers said they would seek to enact it legislatively. “We have drafted, and are prepared to offer, legislative authority” to move the information to “a more secure location.”
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The OPM lost information included on more than 21 million SF-86 forms, a document submitted by applicants seeking security clearances from the U.S. government, as a result of breaches traced to China. Former OPM Director Katherine Archuleta resigned over the incident July. Members of Congress have spent the ensuing months seeking to establish how many additional federal officials and agencies should be held responsible.
