The Government Publishing Office’s (GPO) inspector general acknowledged in a report released Friday that the federal government accidentally published the Social Security numbers of 1,900 people who visited the White House in December 2020. The numbers were included in the final report published by the Jan. 6 House select committee late last year.
According to the GPO inspector general’s report, the White House directed the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) to provide the select committee with White House visitor logs from December 2020 through January 2021, with the understanding that birthdates and Social Security numbers would be redacted.
The committee received the visitation logs from NARA in December 2022, and the select committee disbanded before the incoming Congress, sending its final report and supporting materials to GPO for publication through GovInfo in 2023. Based on their investigation, the committee came to the conclusion that “one guy, former President Donald Trump, whom many others followed, was the fundamental cause of January 6th.”
The GPO inspector general stated that on January 4, 2023, a news outlet informed GPO that the White House visitor logs contained the Social Security numbers of roughly 2,000 people. The private data was taken down from the internet.
In order to enter the White House, visitors must provide their Social Security numbers and dates of birth to the Secret Service. Holiday celebrations organized by Trump in December of 2020 attracted a large number of visitors to the White House.
The GPO inspector general blamed a “perfect storm” of causes for the leak of hundreds of White House visitors’ personal information. The IG pointed out that the publishing office was strained because the select committee revised its request within two weeks before the publication date.
The inspector general found that the “sheer number of supporting materials” meant the publishing office “did not always have an automated mechanism to ingest, process, and publish to GovInfo.” It also concluded that the publishing office was “without active committee control” in the time right following the distribution of the “personally identifiable” and sensitive information because of the transition from the 117th to the 118th Congress.
As Congress deals with yet another data leak, a report from the GPO inspector general has arrived. Washington, DC, was hacked. CBS News has uncovered that the District of Columbia government is facing at least three investigations and a federal civil lawsuit due to the Health Benefit Exchange Authority data system. According to a leading Democrat looking into the attack, the personal information of at least 17 sitting or past members of Congress was compromised.
