Okay, so the mini-scandal of the week was the revelation that a person apparently part of Republican Orrin Hatch’s staff managed to access a Congressional server that contained drafts of memos by Democrats. The person in question then posted some of those memos on the Internet and/or leaked them to media people.
How could this happen? Because, in part, the Senate has what is bar none the dumbest way of handling its IT needs of any organization I have ever heard of. According to a Washington Times story on the leak investigation (emphasis added),
Republicans blamed the security problem on a glitch dating to May 2001, when Sen. James M. Jeffords of Virginia left the Republican Party to become an independent, giving Democrats control over the Senate and Judiciary Committee. When that happened, control over the Judiciary Committe servers also switched hands and new computer technicians unfamiliar with the system were hired.
How stupid could an organization be that it would arbitrarily recycle its IT staff for mission-critical infrastucture in this manner? Are people in the Senate really this stupid?
Wouldn’t the obvious solution be to place Senate IT duties with some non-partisan group that remains stable regardless of the vagaries of each election or party defection?
Stupid beyond words.
Source:
Senate GOP backs leak investigation. Charles Hurt, Washington Times, November 25, 2003.