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U.S. NEWSSaturday 11 July 2015
US personnel chief resigns in wake of massive data breach
Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Director Katherine tory. agency’s deputy director, Among the data the hack-
Archuleta testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington. Obama Katherine Archuleta, direc- Beth Cobert, who will step ers stole: criminal, financial,
accepted Office of Personnel Management Director Katherine tor of the federal Office of into the role on Saturday. health, employment and
Archuleta’s resignation on Friday morning. Personnel Management, Archuleta had told report- residency histories, as well
submitted her resigna- ers Thursday she had no as information about fami-
(AP Photo/Susan Walsh) tion to President Barack intention of leaving and lies and acquaintances.
Obama on Friday morn- that her agency was doing The second, larger attack
JOSH LEDERMAN signed abruptly on Friday, ing, the White House said. everything it could to ad- affected more than 19 mil-
JACK GILLUM giving in to bipartisan calls That comes a day after dress concerns. But within lion people who applied
Associated Press for her to step down fol- the Obama administration hours of the Obama ad- for clearances, as well
WASHINGTON (AP) — The lowing a government data said hackers stole Social ministration on Thursday re- as nearly 2 million of their
head of the U.S. govern- breach that is believed to Security identification num- leasing new details about spouses, housemates and
ment’s personnel office re- be the biggest in U.S. his- bers and other highly sensi- the scope of the breach, others.
tive data from more than House Republican leaders Numerous U.S. lawmakers
21 million people. demanded new leader- who have been briefed
White House spokesman ship in the agency, and a on the federal investiga-
Josh Earnest said that Ar- number of Democrats fol- tion have said emphati-
chuleta wasn’t forced out lowed. cally that China’s govern-
but said, “It’s quite clear Hackers downloaded So- ment was responsible for
that new leadership, with a cial Security numbers, the hack, and investigators
set of skills and experiences health histories or other previously told The Asso-
that are unique to the ur- highly sensitive data from ciated Press that the U.S.
gent challenges that OPM OPM’s databases, affect- government was increas-
faces, are badly needed.” ing more than five times ingly confident that Chi-
She will be replaced on the 4.2 million people the na’s government was re-
a temporary basis by the government first disclosed sponsible.
this year. Since then, the Yet the White House has
administration had ac- refused to point the fin-
knowledged a second, ger at China, saying only
related breach of systems that the same party was
housing private data that responsible for both of the
individuals submit during breaches.
background investigations China has publicly denied
to obtain security clear- involvement in the break-
ances. in.q
FBI: Church suspect shouldn’t
have been able to acquire gun
ERIC TUCKER Dylann Roof weeks before
Associated Press the shooting.
WASHINGTON (AP) — At issue was a police report
The man charged in the from the arrest in which
Charleston, South Caro- authorities say he admit-
lina, church massacre ted to possessing illegal
should not have been al- drugs. Under federal rules,
lowed to purchase the that admission would have
weapon used in the attack been enough to immedi-
that killed nine people, FBI ately disqualify him from his
Director James Comey gun purchase in April, even
said Friday. He outlined the though he wasn’t convict-
“heartbreaking” missed ed of the charge.
opportunities and back- But, Comey said, the FBI
ground check flaws that background check exam-
allowed the transaction to iner who evaluated Roof’s
take place. gun purchase order never
“We are all sick that this saw the arrest report be-
has happened,” Comey cause the wrong arresting
told reporters. “We wish agency was listed on state
we could turn back time, criminal history records.
because from this vantage The purchase order was on
point, everything seems hold for three days as the
obvious.” FBI examiner tried to fig-
He said he had ordered ure out if it should be ap-
a review into what hap- proved or rejected. Once
pened and that FBI officials that window closed with-
would meet with victims’ out a clear answer, the
relatives. gun dealer used its legal
The problems began with discretion to complete the
the drug-related arrest of transaction.q
