Officials dodge breach briefing

Officials from the Office of Personnel Management, the Department of Homeland Security and the Office of Management and Budget declined to appear before the House Armed Services Committee today for a classified briefing on the security breach earlier this year that compromised the personal information of 21 million Americans, many of whom work for the Defense Department.

Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-TX) told reporters that the officials gave notice they would not testify one hour before a scheduled 10 a.m. classified hearing upon being told that the panel transcribes all such proceedings.

“They refused to come,” he said. “I've never had anybody complain about it before. It's pretty remarkable to me that these agencies that are responsible for really the largest national security data breach that we've ever had, probably anybody's ever had, refuse to come up and answer questions because we're going to pay attention to what they say.”

Officials from DOD and the intelligence community, however, did participate in the briefing.

“We asked them questions,” Thornberry said. “So we got a lot of the information that we were looking at, but I've just got to point out that when agencies refuse to come up because they don't want to be held accountable for what they say, it does not breed confidence.”

Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), the committee's ranking member, released a statement voicing his disappointment that officials from OPM, DHS and OMB did not participate in the briefing.

“The OPM data breach is a grave incident involving multiple agencies that has serious consequences for impacted personnel,” he said. “I understand that OPM, DHS and OMB cited the committee’s intent to transcribe the classified briefing as the reason they chose not to appear in front of the committee. However, it is imperative that we hear from all the agencies involved, as we move forward to address network intrusion and institute policies to decrease the likelihood that such a breach will occur again.”