National Journal: Senator Pushes for Watchdog to Look for More Holes in OPM System

Last week, officials at the Office of Personnel Management temporarily pulled the plug on an online tool used to submit background-check forms because a security review had turned up an unspecified vulnerability.

Now, a senator who sits on a key subcommittee is pressing the agency’s inspector general to examine other potential vulnerabilities in OPM’s entire security-clearance processing system, known as EPIC.

Jon Tester, D-Mont., wrote to OPM Inspector General Patrick McFarland on July 6, to “express concern about possible key vulnerabilities in the EPIC suite system,” which is operated by OPM’s Federal Investigative Service division.

Tester is a member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee that oversees federal management.