Last week, we got information from a source in the Executive Office of the President that the EOP’s computer system had been down for, at that time, a week. Federal IT personnel evidently were having trouble identifying and fixing the problem that had brought the computer system down (although email and internet access had been restored), and EOP employees were instructed to say nothing about it. Scott followed up with posts here, here and here. He repeatedly emailed the White House press office, asking for information about the outage. The press office acknowledged receipt of his emails, but refused to answer his questions.

A major intrusion into the Executive Office of the President’s computer system is huge news, with potential implications for national security, among other things. The EOP’s web site identifies the many agencies that are part of EOP:

The following entities exist within the Executive Office of the President:

* Council of Economic Advisers
* Council on Environmental Quality
* Executive Residence
* National Security Staff
* Office of Administration
* Office of Management and Budget
* Office of National Drug Control Policy
* Office of Science and Technology Policy
* Office of the United States Trade Representative
* Office of the Vice President
* White House Office

In addition, the following entities exist within the White House Office:

* Domestic Policy Council
* Office of National AIDS Policy
* Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships
* Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation
* White House Rural Council
* National Security Advisor
* National Economic Council
* Office of Cabinet Affairs
* Office of the Chief of Staff
* Office of Communications
* Office of the Press Secretary
* Media Affairs
* Research
* Speechwriting
* Office of Digital Strategy
* Office of the First Lady
* Office of the Social Secretary
* Office of Legislative Affairs
* Office of Management and Administration
* White House Personnel
* White House Operations
* Telephone Office
* Visitors Office
* Oval Office Operations
* Office of Presidential Personnel
* Office of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs
* Office of Public Engagement
* Council on Women and Girls
* Office of Intergovernmental Affairs
* Office of Urban Affairs
* Office of Scheduling and Advance
* Office of the Staff Secretary
* Presidential Correspondence
* Executive Clerk
* Records Management
* Office of the White House Counsel

Imagine the havoc that could result if a hostile foreign power accessed all of the computer files, including email, of all of those federal agencies. A large number of people work in the Executive Office of the President, and it seems hardly credible that no one in Washington learned of the massive computer outage described by our source. And yet, until today no news source other than Power Line had written a word about it.

This afternoon, I assume as a result of Scott’s persistence, the Obama administration made a limited disclosure that confirmed that our source’s information was correct. The administration’s belated disclosure is described in the Reuters article that Scott wrote about earlier this evening.

The Obama administration told Reuters that the outage affected “some EOP users.” Our source believed that it affected the entire EOP; be that as it may, “some” is critically ambiguous. Did it affect the National Security Staff, or the Office of the First Lady? The National Security Advisor, or the Office of Urban Affairs? The White House, or the Council on Environmental Quality? Or was the outage general across most, if not all, of the EOP? The administration spokesman offers no clue.

SNIP-

Read more:http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/20...tion-fiasco.php