Andy Greenberg reports:
When David Ferriero was named head of the federal government’s National Archive and Records Agency last month, he didn’t just become America’s most important librarian. He also took on one of the toughest tasks in government IT today: plugging the source of a continual stream of information leaks, including what may have been the biggest federal data breach of all time.
On Wednesday, Ferriero will be called before the House of Representative’s Oversight and Government Reform committee to discuss the future of the National Archive’s mission as a museum and records agency. But he’ll also face tough questions on another subject: ending NARA’s streak of embarrassing data spillages that have leaked millions of individuals’ sensitive information over the last year.
[…]
Hank Bellomy, a NARA information technology staffer, says that security problems at the agency are even more widespread than reported, and that “thousands” of tapes are unaccounted for. On his first day at the agency, he witnessed contractors throwing unwiped hard drives into unsecured dumpsters, and more recently has repeatedly found multiple doors to secure areas propped open that should be locked. “To date we have done nothing to stop the hemorrhaging of data at NARA,” he says.
In last month’s congressional hearing, Congressman McHenry described NARA’s behavior as “staggering negligence.”
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