Washington Post, Ellen Nakashima: “The massive hack last year of the Office of Personnel Management’s system containing security clearance information affected 21.5 million people, including current and former employees, contractors and their families and friends, officials said Thursday. That is in addition to a separate hack – also last year — of OPM’s personnel database that affected 4.2 million people. That number was previously announced. Together, the breaches arguably comprise the most consequential cyber intrusion in U.S. government history. Administration officials have privately said they were traced to the Chinese government and appear to be for purposes of traditional espionage…

“Today’s new number is staggering,” Drew Halunen, legislative director for the National Federation of Federal Employees, said in a statement.  “Now, not only do federal employees have to worry about their own personal information being exposed – but they must also worry about their spouse and children having their information compromised. The magnitude of worry has grown exponentially for federal employees in the wake of this news.”

“…FBI Director James Comey said at a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing Wednesday [July 8, 2015] – “We’re talking about millions and millions of people affected by this,” he said. “I’m sure the adversary has my SF86 now,” referring to the Standard Form 86, which all applicants for security clearances must fill out. He noted it lists “every place I’ve lived since I was 18, every foreign trip I’ve taken, all of my family and their addresses…I’ve got siblings. I’ve got five kids. All of that is in there.” Said Comey: “It is a huge deal.” At a roundtable with reporters on Thursday July 9, 2015], Comey called the heist a “treasure trove of information.”