Hard Drive From Clinton Era Missing From Archives
Congressional officials are investigating a missing computer hard drive from the National Archives containing crucial personal data from the Clinton administration.
Officials said they were made aware of the security breach in April. They reported that the drive, which contains a terabyte of computerized data, was missing.
The hard drive reportedly contains the social security number of one of former Vice President Al Gore’s three daughters, although it is unclear at this point which one.
Other information on the drive included home addresses and phone numbers of people who worked at the White House, as well as security procedures used by the Secret Service during the Clinton administration.
Officials said the drive went missing from the Archives facility in College Park, Md between October 2008 and March 2009.
The National Archives and Records Administration said Tuesday that it “takes very seriously the loss of an external hard drive that contained copies of electronic storage tapes from the executive office of the president of the Clinton administration.”
According to the Associated Press, Archives spokeswoman Susan Cooper said the agency was preparing to notify affected individuals about the breach.
"The drive contains an as yet unknown amount of personally identifiable information of White House staff and visitors," said Cooper.
Rep. Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said the FBI is beginning a criminal investigation of the source of the breach.
“I am deeply concerned about this serious security breach at the National Archives,” said Towns.
"The committee will do everything possible to prevent compromising the integrity of the FBI’s criminal investigation while we fulfill our constitutional duty to investigate the compromised security protocols," he said.
According to the Associated Press, Republican, Rep. Darrell Issa has called for Adrienne Thomas, acting director for the Archives, to appear before a committee panel Thursday.
"This egregious breach raises significant questions regarding the effectiveness of the security protocols that are in place at the National Archives and Records Administration," he said.
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