Katherine Archuleta, director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), resigned her position July 10, a day after the scope of the second OPM hack was disclosed.
The resignation, effective the end of the day July 10, comes a day after the agency revealed the full extent of the second breach to its networks: 21.5 million individuals who sought background investigations for government postings since 2000 and some of their relatives have had their personal information such as social security numbers stolen by the OPM hackers.
President Obama appointed Beth Cobert, deputy director of management at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), to temporarily act as OPM director until a permanent replacement is found.
“Director Archuleta did offer her resignation today. She did so of her own volition. She recognizes, as the White House does, that the urgent challenges currently facing the Office of Personnel management require a manager with a specialized set of skills and experiences,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said in a briefing July 10.
Before entering the government, Cobert spent three decades working as a management expert at McKinsey. While there she worked with various entities to make improvements and enhance the deployment of new technology, Earnest said.
At OMB, Colbert has “led the implementation of the president’s management agenda to improve how government functions. And this involved overseeing offices related to government performance, government procurement, and financial management. So the president believes that she is, at least on an acting basis, the right person for the job while we search for a permanent replacement for Director Archuleta.”
Archuleta has been under pressure from Republicans in Congress to resign since the OPM breaches were first disclosed in June. On July 9 Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) became the first Democrat in the Senate to call for her resignation following that day’s release.
“The technological and security failures at the Office of Personnel Management predate this director’s term, but Director Archuleta’s slow and uneven response has not inspired confidence that she is the right person to manage OPM through this crisis. It is time for her to step down, and I strongly urge the administration to choose new management with proven abilities to address a crisis of this magnitude with an appropriate sense of urgency and accountability,” he said in a statement.
Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, welcomed Archuleta’s resignation July 10.
“This is the absolute right call. OPM needs a competent, technically savvy leader to manage the biggest cybersecurity crisis in this nation’s history. 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’s best now,” Chaffetz said in a statement.
Chaffetz previously asserted Archuleta was hired because she served as Obama’s national political director in his 2012 reelection campaign. Previously she served as the chief of staff and senior aid to several Cabinet-level departments in the Clinton and Obama administrations.
Michael McCaul (R-Texas), chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security approved of the resignation.
“The buck stops with the OPM Director. The new leadership now has the hard task of not only fixing the failures that allowed this to happen, but also earning back the trust of federal government employees and the American public,” McCaul said.
“This massive data theft of very sensitive information underscores again the need for cybersecurity laws to be strengthened. I hope the Senate will act quickly on cybersecurity legislation that passed the House with a strong bipartisan vote two months ago.”
McCaul was referencing his House-passed National Cybersecurity Protection Advancement Act (NCPAA) of 2015 (H.R. 1731).
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, approved of the change in leadership.
“I appreciate Director Archuleta making the right choice and stepping down. I wish her well in her future endeavors. I look forward to working with Deputy Director Cobert, until a permanent replacement can be found, to begin addressing weaknesses in the OPM’s cybersecurity management. I urge President Obama to find a permanent replacement with appropriate management and information technology experience.”
Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), ranking member of the committee, underscored the importance of the Senate confirming the top positions at OPM and authorizing cyber intrusion detection and prevention systems.
“Given that the top two positions at the agency are now vacant, it is imperative that President Obama puts forth a new nominee for director soon. In the meantime, the Senate needs to get off its duff and confirm retired U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Earl Gay, first nominated by the President last September, to serve as Deputy Director of OPM. Further delay on his confirmation is simply unacceptable, especially at a time like this.”
“Congress needs to provide agencies with the best tools to stop these intrusions. That includes authorizing the cyber intrusion detection and prevention system currently known as EINSTEIN. In addition, we should enact badly-needed, bipartisan data breach legislation and long-sought legislation to enable the sharing of information among potential targets of hackers,” Carper added.
On July 9, Sen Jon Tester (D-Mont.), a fellow committee member, had strong words in response to the scope of the attack.
“Today’s report is unacceptable. We need complete transparency from OPM about what happened and what they are doing to ensure this never happens again. We need these answers now…I call on the Senate Homeland Security Committee to hold a hearing on efforts to mitigate the impacts of this breach and to prevent future breaches. We don’t need finger-pointing; we need solutions. We need to hold OPM accountable, but we also need to give them the tools to safeguard the private information of our citizens.”
Earnest, the White House spokesman, maintained that although the agency needs a new manager for the situation, Archuleta performed well in her position.
“[Archuleta] understood that cybersecurity at OPM needed to be a priority. And it’s precisely because of some of the reforms that she initiated that this particular cyber breach was detected n the first place. But given the urgent and significant challenges that are facing OPM right now, a new manager with a specialized set of skills and experiences is needed.”
Earnest did not know if the president’s private information was included in the breach and again declined to comment on Director of National Intelligence James Clapper’s statements June 25 that China is the “leading suspect” in the hack.