Lankford Leads Hearing on Secret Service Information Breaches

Senator James Lankford led a joint Senate-House hearing into the Secret Service failures in protecting vital information about individuals. As chair of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee, led the line of questioning for U.S. Secret Service Director Joseph Clancy, Department of Homeland Inspector General John Roth, and Government Accountability Office Information Technology Managing Director Joel Willemssen.

The Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued a report on U.S. Secret Service employees who allegedly violated the Privacy Act, Homeland Security policy, and Secret Service policy. The OIG discovered a practice of accessing personal records of Americans on an internal Secret Service database. In addition to illegally access the information, some Secret Service employees may have disclosed protected employment records to the media.

“Today’s hearing revealed a disappointing culture at the Secret Service that reflects a total disregard for privacy, which appears to be occurring in other agencies, as well,” said Lankford. “The security violations against private citizens are very serious and should be a wake-up call to Congress and the American people. Cybersecurity and privacy are some of the biggest national security issues in today’s world, and yet our federal agencies are failing at security protocols. Dozens of Secret Service individuals have been disciplined, but more must be done to ensure a culture of respect for privacy. In light of recent failures at the Secret Service, OPM, the VA, and the Social Security Administration, federal agencies must demonstrate a plan to protect the millions of Americans whose private information is housed on government databases.”

See Senator Lankford’s Remarks Here