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 The disclosure last week that hackers had penetrated a database
containing such intimate and possibly damaging facts about millions
of government and private employees has shaken Washington.
The hacking of the White House Office of Personnel Management (OPM)
could provide a treasure trove for foreign spies.
The military man's affair, divulged when he got a job with a defense
contractor and applied to upgrade his clearance, is just one example
of the extensive potential for disruption, embarrassment and even
blackmail arising from the hacking.
The man had kept the affair secret from his wife for two decades
before disclosing it on the government's innocuously named Standard
Form 86 (SF 86), filled out by millions of Americans seeking
security clearances.
His case is described in a judge's ruling, published on the Pentagon
website, that he should keep his security clearance because he told
the government about the affair. His name is not given in the
administrative judge's decision.
The disclosure that OPM's data had been hacked sent shivers down the
spines of current and former U.S. government officials as they
realized their secrets about sex, drugs and money could be in the
hands of a foreign government.
The data that may be compromised by the incident, which was first
reported by the Associated Press, included the detailed personal
information on the SF 86 "QUESTIONNAIRE FOR NATIONAL SECURITY
POSITIONS," according to U.S. officials.
U.S. SUSPECTS LINK TO CHINA
As with another cyberattack on OPM disclosed earlier this month,
U.S. officials suspect it was linked to China, though they have less
confidence about the origins of the second attack than about the
first.
China denies any involvement in hacking U.S. databases.
While the Central Intelligence Agency does its own clearance
investigations, agencies such as the State Department, Defense
Department and National Security Agency, which eavesdrops on the
world, all use OPM's services to some degree.
Intelligence veterans said the breach may prove disastrous because
China could use it to find relatives of U.S. officials abroad as
well as evidence of love affairs or drug use which could be used to
blackmail or influence U.S. officials.
An even worse scenario would be the mass unmasking of covert
operatives in the field, they said.
"The potential loss here is truly staggering and, by the way, these
records are a legitimate foreign intelligence target," said retired
Gen. Michael Hayden, a former CIA and NSA director. "This isn't
shame on China. This is shame on us."
The SF 86 form, which is 127-pages long, is extraordinarily
comprehensive and intrusive.
Among other things, applicants must list where they have lived;
contacts with foreign citizens and travel abroad; the names and
personal details of relatives; illegal drug use and mental health
counseling except in limited circumstances.
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A review of appeals of security denials published on the web shows
the variety of information now in possession of the hackers,
including financial troubles, infidelities, psychiatric diagnoses,
substance abuse, health issues and arrests.
"It's kind of scary that somebody could know that much about us,"
said a former senior U.S. diplomat, pointing out the ability to use
such data to impersonate an American official online, obtain
passwords and plunder bank accounts.
SOME AGENCIES LESS VULNERABLE
A U.S. official familiar with security procedures, but who declined
to be identified, said some agencies do not use OPM for clearances,
meaning their employees' data was at first glance less likely to
have been compromised.
However, the former senior diplomat said someone with access to a
complete set of SF 86 forms and to the names of officials at U.S.
embassies, which are usually public, could compare the two and make
educated guesses about who might be a spy.
"Negative information is an indicator just as much as a positive
information," said the former diplomat.
A review of appeals of security denials published on the web shows a
variety of information now in possession of the hackers, including
financial troubles, infidelities, psychiatric diagnoses, substance
abuse, health issues and arrests.
The case of the 51-year-old former military man who told the
government, but not his wife, about his 20-year affair came to light
when he filed an appeal because his effort to upgrade his security
clearance ran into trouble.
According to a May 13 decision by an administrative judge who heard
his case, the man revealed the affair in the "Additional Comments"
section of SF 86 in January 2012, ended the affair in 2013, and told
his wife about it in 2014.
"DOD (Department of Defense) is aware of the affair because
Applicant disclosed it on his SF 86; the affair is over; and the key
people in Applicant’s life are aware of it," the judge wrote,
according to a Defense Office of Hearings and Appeals document
posted online.
His access to classified information was approved.
(Reporting by Arshad Mohammed in Washington and Joseph Menn in San
Francisco; Additional reporting by Mark Hosenball; Editing by David
Storey and Sue Horton)
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