Jeb Bush: I would fire OPM director over hack attack

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush called for the ouster of the federal government's personnel chief for failing to heed a watchdog's warnings of potential cybersecurity vulnerabilities. The recently disclosed breach of the Office of Personnel Management’s security-clearance computer system took place a year ago and is now believed to have affected the personal data of more than 18 million current, former and potential federal workers. Those disclosures have come as Bush has launched a new focus in recent days on cybersecurity and the ongoing dangers faced by the public and private sector.

On June 23, Bush strongly criticized the Obama Administration's lax management of the situation. "It's outrageous," he said, recounting recent reports that Chinese hackers had access to the personal data for more than a year, and that federal officials now believe the number of people affected is much greater than initially acknowledged. "You have a political hack -- you have the national political director of the Obama reelection campaign as the head of this," Bush said. "And just as has been the case across the board when we have this sheer incompetence or scandalous behavior, there's no accountability. No one seems to be fired. If I was President of the United States, that person would be fired. They did not follow up on inspector general's recommendations to tighten up security to create a stronger firewall," he added. "The net result is that the Chinese, apparently the Chinese have had access to this information for over a year and it's a dangerous threat to our national security."