A computer hacker got into the U.S. agency that guards the country’s nuclear weapons stockpile and stole the personal records of at least 1,500 employees and contractors, a senior U.S. lawmaker said on Friday.

The target of the hacker, the National Nuclear Safety Administration, is the latest agency to reveal that sensitive private information about government workers was stolen.

The incident happened last September but top Energy Department officials were not told about it until this week, prompting the chairman of the House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee to demand the resignation of the head of the NNSA.

This would not be the first time that an external threat actor ran rough-shod through DOE systems . . . and it will likely not be the last. DOE, DOD, VA . . . millions of employees and soldiers and contractors and possibly family members. You’d think someone would notice and maybe take action. You’d think that maybe there would be policy and regulations about this stuff. You think that someone would check up to make sure that we’re compliant. Oh, right there is and they do.

There is a potential solution for this; something that ends perpetual victim hood and spares us the drama of going the Chinese route (no pun intended) and building a corps of cyber cops.

Oh, I can’t tell. Not yet. Waiting for the editors to have their way with my precious verbiage. Soon, very soon. You can guess in the comments.

About the Author

Michael Tanji

Michael Tanji spent nearly 20 years in the US intelligence community. Trained in both SIGINT and HUMINT disciplines he has worked at the Defense Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, and the National Reconnaissance Office. At various points in his career he served as an expert in information warfare, computer network operations, computer forensics, and indications and warning. A veteran of the US Army, Michael has served in both strategic and tactical assignments in the Pacific Theater, the Balkans, and the Middle East.