South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, who has just started her second term, has said she and her immediate family are at a “very high risk” of identity theft after the House Jan. 6 Committee made their Social Security numbers public.
In what Noem’s attorney described as a “critical breach of confidential data,” the numbers belonging to Noem, her husband, her three children and son-in-law were published without redaction as part of the White House’s visitor logs that became exhibits during the Jan. 6 Committee hearings.
The logs contained “nearly 2,000 Social Security numbers associated with visitors to the White House in December 2020,” according to The Washington Post, which first reported on the leak. The numbers, as required by law, should have been redacted prior to the document’s publication.
“This information was publicly available for days before being removed from the website,” the attorney wrote in a letter to the White House, Government Publishing Office, National Archives, and Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.), who chaired the now-disbanded committee. “Perhaps most troubling and outrageous is that fact that each of you had an opportunity and obligation to prevent the wrongful disclosure.”
“Governor Noem and her family are now at a very high risk of identity theft and being personally compromised,” the letter read, noting that failure to protect this information is a violation of the federal privacy law.
The attorney further demanded more information about how the breach occurred, who should be held responsible, and what actions are to be taken to remedy the breach.
Also among those whose information was exposed are three members of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet, as well as prominent Republicans such as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson.
“Whether it was a careless and sloppy handling of records or a deliberate disregard of decorum, either scenario is a perfunctory and callous display of government and a frightening reminder of the current state in Washington,” Carson told the Post. “President Reagan was a savant indeed—the nine most frightening words to hear are, ‘I am from the government and here to help.’”
The exhibits that contained White House visitors’ Social Security numbers was originally published by the Government Publishing Office, according to the Post. They were taken down on Jan. 4, the day after the committee’s scheduled dissolution.
It appeared that those affected weren’t notified about the incident.
“To my knowledge, we were not notified. The governor was not notified,” Noem spokesman Ian Fury told the newspaper.
In February 2022, President Joe Biden ordered the National Archives to release the White House visitor logs to the Jan. 6 Committee, denying Trump’s effort to use executive privilege to keep the information private.
“The records in question are entries in visitor logs showing appointment information for individuals who were processed to enter the White House complex, including on January 6, 2021,” then-White House Counsel Dana Remus wrote in the letter to the National Archives at that time. “As a matter of policy, and subject to limited exceptions, the Biden Administration voluntarily discloses such visitor logs on a monthly basis.”
“The President has determined that an assertion of executive privilege is not in the best interests of the United States, and therefore is not justified, as to these records and portions of records,” Remus wrote.
Well, well—the Instigative Committee scored the Leak of Leaks. How nice of them.
Leak> THAT was deliberate.. PERIOD..
THERE IS NO damn reason, anyone visiting that hearing, should have had to put down their FULL SSN… NONE what so bloody ever.
I doubt this was and accident or oversight, knowing the nature of those on the committee, Democrat and Republican, this was intentional, another sleazy attack to undermine every person on the list as political retribution!
To a demented Demcrat/Rino, an identity crisis is when someone cannot identify either their race of their gender, or get sane others to accept the unreal imagined ones they have identified for themselves. To an honest patriotic American citizen, an identity crisis is when corrupt power-seeking Democrats and RINOs conspire to take you down by invading your homes, stealing your private information, or getting a dishonest Obama judge to steal it for them, then exposing them to danger as a warning to others not to oppose them or face a complicated life of personal attack usually followed by all kinds of legal costs and consequences. The wasting of legitimate human life force is their ticket to power. True political justice is to do unto them what they have dishonestly attempted to do unto you, because the concept of God’s justice of doing unto others as you would have them do unto you is not a life concept of a pathological power grabbing person or party. When Corrupt democrats become your neighbor, you cannot have them love you, just like they subliminally and justifiably hate themselves, or hate prevails where love should reign. The equity of their misguided love is in no way equal to that of true believers and followers of fair play, honestly and personal responsibility and integrity. When in doubt, vote them out, every chance you get. They are a personal attack awaiting a happening.
Knowing nothing will happen to them, all they will say sorry about that (not)
I doubt they’ll even say “oops”.. LET ALONE sorry.
Note that no one document containing any personal name/information about a democrat is EVER overlooked.
And you can bet, HAD such a document gotten out, THE FBI WOULD have had a 30+ armed team, ready to raid whomever it got leaked too.
It seems that the committee opened itself up to a big liability if losses are suffered by those whose information was publicly exposed. I am sure some lawyer will figure that out.