Jan. 6 cache missed redactions
Social Security numbers exposed
WASHINGTON — When the House Jan. 6 committee wrapped up its work in recent weeks, it posted hundreds of records online, including interview transcripts, audio recordings, and text messages.
Also buried in the massive cache was a spreadsheet with nearly 2,000 Social Security numbers associated with visitors to the White House in December 2020, including at least three members of former President Trump’s Cabinet, a few Republican governors, and numerous Trump allies.
While the spreadsheet with the numbers was taken down Wednesday, the high-profile nature of the people whose data was exposed probably puts them at an “elevated risk” because the information would be especially useful to intelligence agencies, said James Lee, chief operating officer of the Identity Theft Resource Center, a nonprofit organization that advises victims of identity crimes and compromises.
Lee recommended that people listed follow common tips for victims of identity crimes, including freezing their credit, using a multi-factor authentication app for their online accounts, and setting up credit and account monitoring.
Exposed individuals don’t appear to have been notified about the leak. The Government Publishing Office, which originally published the file, did not respond to a request for comment on whether it planned to notify people whose Social Security numbers were exposed.
“To my knowledge, we were not notified. The governor was not notified,” said Ian Fury, a spokesman for Republican South Dakota Governor Kristi L. Noem. Social Security numbers were listed alongside the names of Noem, her husband, and her three children.
Many of those contacted by the Post declined to confirm whether their Social Security numbers matched the ones listed in the file, citing privacy concerns.
Representatives of Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott, Republican South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster, and former health and human services secretary Alex Azar, who were listed in the spreadsheet alongside Social Security numbers, declined to comment or did not respond to requests for comment.
“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,” said former housing and urban development secretary Ben Carson, whose name was listed in the spreadsheet alongside a Social Security number. “President Reagan was a savant indeed — the nine most frightening words to hear are, ‘I am from the government and here to help.’”
A former Jan. 6 committee aide, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly, said that committee “records released publicly underwent a review process to redact personal details and other sensitive information.”
“Any release of such information was inadvertent,” the aide added.
A federal district court judge and a federal appeals court judge, at least a half-dozen people who testified before the Jan. 6 committee, and a lawyer who represented another witness before the committee also appear to have had their Socials Security numbers exposed.
The Social Security numbers appeared as part of the White House visitor logs published by the committee. Many Social Security numbers in the logs were redacted, but around 1,900 of them were not.