Embattled OPM official to testify before House Oversight Committee

The top technology official at the agency hit by massive hacks over the summer will testify on Wednesday before House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), who has spent months calling for her firing.

Since the full scope of digital assault at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) was revealed in June, Chaffetz has led the charge to oust Donna Seymour, the agency’s chief information officer.

{mosads}On Wednesday, Seymour will appear before Chaffetz and his committee for the first time since the panel held two hearings in the wake of the hacks. The OPM intrusions exposed over 20 million people’s sensitive information, including highly personal security clearance background check forms.

Former OPM Director Katherine Archuleta resigned after the hearings, but Seymour kept her job.

Her ongoing employment has frustrated Chaffetz. On at least five occasions, he has called for Seymour’s axing via letters to the OPM and White House.

Seymour is “unfit to perform the significant duties for which she is responsible,” he said in a December letter to OPM Acting Director Beth Cobert.

Chaffetz insists Seymour repeatedly ignored warnings from her agency’s inspector general (IG) about technological shortcomings that left OPM networks exposed to hackers.

The Oversight head also believes Seymour bungled the cleanup from the hacks.

Just days after the OPM revealed the initial intrusion, the agency hired government services firm Winvale and credit monitoring firm CSID to notify the victims and to offer them free credit monitoring services.

But an IG report later found that “significant deficiencies existed” in how the contract was awarded, confirming some reports that the contract had been handed out swiftly and without the necessary vetting of different companies.

“The record is clear that six months after the American people first learned about OPM’s spectacular failure at securing sensitive personal information, change is needed in the Office of the Chief Information Officer,” Chaffetz said in December.

Chaffetz is not the only lawmaker who wants Seymour out of a job. During joint hearing of two House subcommittees in January, Republican lawmakers chastised the OPM for not firing more people following the hacks.

“I am still not satisfied that the responsible parties have been held accountable for the failure of the agency to address known security vulnerabilities,” said Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-Va.), chair of the House Research and Technology Subcommittee, one of the two subpanels holding the hearing.

The OPM has stood by Seymour.

Seymour has “served with distinction,” the agency said in December. The OPM credits her with leading the charge to upgrade the OPM’s outdated networks after arriving in 2013.

Seymour has also spearheaded the agency’s aggressive efforts since the hacks “to strengthen our broader cyber defenses and information technology systems,” the agency added.

Following the digital intrusions, the OPM strengthened network login requirements, worked to encrypt more portions of its network and put the Defense Department in charge of securing the background check database.