Dive Brief:
- The Office of Personnel Management announced Monday that its CIO, Donna Seymour, is retiring.
- Last year, under Seymour’s watch, a massive data breach at OPM exposed the personal information of about 21.5 million current and former federal employees and contractors.
- Seymour was scheduled to testify about the hack before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Wednesday.
Dive Insight:
The chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, had called for Seymour’s resignation numerous times.
"On her watch, whether through negligence or incompetence, millions of Americans lost their privacy and personal data,” said Chaffetz, according to a NextGov report. “The national security implications of this entirely foreseeable breach are far-reaching and long-lasting. OPM now needs a qualified CIO at the helm to right the ship and restore confidence in the agency.”
Chaffetz’s committee subpoenaed OPM officials earlier this month over documents relating to the massive breach. The hearing was canceled following Seymour’s announcement.
Seymour served as OPM’s CIO since December 2013 and worked has a federal employee for 37 years. Her replacement has not yet been named.
Seymour’s departure may help the agency in its continuing efforts to regain its footing after the massive breach. In January, the Obama administration said it would establish a new national agency to conduct background checks on federal employees and contractors, taking that responsibility away from OPM. The breach also raised awareness for more extensive federal cybersecurity measures. Earlier this month, the Obama administration released its 2017 budget, calling for $19 billion to support a "broad-based cybersecurity strategy."
