“We should take this data breach as seriously as enemy vessels off our coast or plane hijackers in the air.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – House Republican Conference Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers issued the following statement in response to the Office of Personnel Management’s announcement that the theft of personal records at the agency included an additional 21 million records not previously reported:

“This Administration has shown repeatedly that it does not know how to ensure the security of critical data and has little concern for the personal privacy that federal employees and all American deserve. The senior managers at OPM should be held accountable for their grave errors and stumbling response; and any replacement must know that a future breach will not be tolerated.

“As this week’s computer ‘glitches’ reminded us, we are now living in an era where our virtual world is deeply intertwined with the real world. This theft exposes millions of Americans who have served their country to unnecessary personal and financial threats. We should take this data breach as seriously as enemy vessels off our coast or plane hijackers in the air. It demands the strongest possible response and has been met with bureaucratic inertia.”