Washington, D.C. – The Oversight Subcommittee today voted in favor of a resolution authorizing Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) to issue a subpoena to former U.S. Chief Technology Officer Todd Park, a top Assistant to President Obama during the launch of Healthcare.gov last November.
After refusing to testify, Mr. Park scheduled a briefing for Members of the Oversight Subcommittee on Wednesday September 10, 2014, regarding his management and oversight of the HealthCare.gov website, including security protocols. However, less than 24 hours in advance, the White House cancelled the briefing because they did not want any official transcript of the discussion.
Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Broun: “The Committee has invited Mr. Park to testify before us on five different occasions on his knowledge of privacy and security matters relating to the Affordable Care Act website, HealthCare.gov. We have written directly to Mr. Park, as well as the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), but to no avail. The Committee’s concerns about HealthCare.gov are well known, as we have held two hearings since the website’s botched launch last October. Additionally, recent reports about a successful hack of the website have further raised the stakes on the need to ensure Americans who log on to HealthCare.gov later this year are safe from cyber criminals.
“The Committee did not receive these documents from OSTP, despite requesting them in a letter last December. That is one part of the reason for today’s meeting. It is inexcusable for an agency, of which this Committee has complete jurisdiction, to not provide records from a request made nine months ago. The other reason for today’s meeting is that it would certainly appear, upon reading the contents of some of the e-mails, that Mr. Park has more knowledge about the website than either he or OSTP has represented to Congress.”
In his opening remarks, Chairman Broun laid out a brief timeline of emails that were obtained by the Committee raising questions about Mr. Park’s role and knowledge of security issues prior to October 1, 2013, as the website was being built.
The subpoena would require the White House to provide documents and emails pertaining to Todd Park’s role in development of the website. It will also oblige Mr. Park to appear before the Oversight Subcommittee to provide testimony under oath. Mr. Park, who recently stepped down as Chief Technology Officer, was the co-chair of the White House’s Affordable Care Act Information Technology Exchanges Steering Committee, a body responsible for overseeing security protocols during development of the Healthcare.gov website.