July 23, 2015
By AFGE President J. David Cox Sr.
Washington, DC – American Federation of Government Employees National President J. David Cox Sr. issued the following statement to LaborPress in response to the disclosure that an additional 21.5 million people had their personal data stolen as a result of intrusions into the Office of Personnel Management's computer systems:
"The Obama administration has confirmed our fears that far more people were affected by the data breaches than OPM originally announced.
"Everyone who completed a federal employment suitability form since at least 2000 had their information stolen. This amounts to about 21.5 million people. The information stolen includes Social Security numbers on applicants and their spouses or domestic partners, employment and education history, current and former home addresses, the passwords used for completing the forms online, and in some cases biometric information such as fingerprints.
"This is in addition to the 4.2 million current and former employees whose information was potentially compromised as a result of a separate data breach into OPM's personnel records.
"The credit monitoring and fraud protection being offered by OPM in response to these breaches is woefully insufficient in light of the extreme nature of these cybercrimes. We are committed to ensuring the administration does everything possible to protect the personal information of the individuals who were victimized and puts the proper safeguards in place to prevent a similar breach in the future and to remedy the harm caused by these breaches."
*** The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) is the largest federal employee union, representing 670,000 workers in the federal government.
