Utah’s Hatch and Chaffetz Applaud OPM Director Katherine Archuleta’s Resignation
WASHINGTON, July 10 (UPI) — Katherine Archuleta resigned as director of the Office of Personnel Management Friday amid growing criticism of a massive data breach that resulted in the theft of personal information from millions of federal accounts. Utah Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Representative Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) applauded Archuleta’s decision saying it was “absolutely the right call.”
Archuleta submitted her letter of resignation to President Obama this morning, saying new leadership was needed at the federal agency to “move beyond the current challenges.” The president accepted her resignation effective this evening.
Beth Cobert, the deputy director of management at the Office of Management and Budget, will take over until a replacement is found.
Senator Hatch quickly reacted to the resignation saying it was time for change at the top of this important agency. “Federal employees and personnel have a right to know that when they choose a career in public service, their personal data is in the hands of responsible stewards. Director Archuleta failed that test,” said Hatch. Utah’s senior senator also announced his intention to hold Cobert accountable for improving the office and “correcting the embarrassing shortcomings that have been exposed in recent weeks.”
Representative Chaffetz, House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman, told Roll Call “OPM needs a competent, technically savvy leader to manage the biggest cyber-security crisis in the nation’s history.” Chaffetz also claimed this has been an ongoing problem. “The IG has been warning about security lapses at OPM for almost a decade. This should have been addressed much, much sooner but I appreciate the President doing what is best now.”
Yesterday, the government revealed the data breach in late 2014 was more extensive than first thought, saying information from 21.5 million people was compromised in addition to the personal data of 4.2 million current and former federal employees.
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