The Office of Personnel Management has been beset for years by computer-security weaknesses that continue to “haunt” the agency, its assistant inspector general will tell Congress on Wednesday. In prepared testimony obtained by The Daily Beast, Michael R. Esser says auditors found “material weakness” at the agency, which was recently overrun by hackers who stole millions of files on current and former government employees. “There was often confusion and disagreement” about how to protect the agency’s sensitive data, Esser is expected to say. What’s more, an office that technically had the security job was staffed by people who “frequently had no [information technology] security background and were performing this function in addition to another full-time role.”
— Shane Harris