NCSC says OPM hack exposing information of 21 million wasn't their responsibility

                                                                         

senator Ron Wyden asked whether the NCSC had identified as a security risk the OPM âs giant database of federal security clearances. Photograph: Bloomberg/Bloomberg by Getty Images

The Democratic senator from Oregon last month submitted questions to the National Counterintelligence and Security Middle (NCSC) about the hacking earlier this year of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), in which the personal information of 21 million people was exposed.

One of the largest breaches of US government knowledge in history is someone elseâs responsibility, counterintelligence officials told senator Ron Wyden in a formal letter passed to the Guardian on Wednesday.

Wyden also asked whether the NCSC had made any recommendations related to better securing the database, which retains knowledge going back to 1985. The theft of the information exposed some 21 million current, former and potential government employees and has been attributed to Chinese hackers by the US government. The position of blame is at the forefront of lots of minds in the nationâs capital.

In August, Wyden asked whether the NCSC had identified as a security risk the OPM âs giant database of federal security clearances, which includes personal and identifying information as private as psychiatric evaluations and social security numbers.

Wyden professed himself unimpressed. The OPM breach had a immense counterintelligence impact and the only response by the nationâs top counterintelligence officials is to say that it wasnât their job,âthey wrote in an emailed statement, calling it â bureaucratic responseâ that was âunworthy of individuals who are being trusted to defend Americaâ.

â[E]xecutive branch oversight of agency information security policies and practices rests with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS),â wrote William Evanina, director of the NCSC and also the National Counterintelligence Executive. Evanina, appointed to his position by national intelligence director James Clapper last year, told Wyden that his department doesnât tell other agencies how to handle IT security.