A former adviser to four presidents on national security said on Sunday that the Obama administration was guilty of "almost criminal negligence" for its response to China’s massive cyber attack on the U.S. government.
"I don't blame the Chinese," Richard Clarke said on ABC’s Face the Nation. "This is what intelligence agencies do. This is what the United States does. We steal this sort of information. I blame the Obama administration for taking this issue not seriously enough. This is almost criminal negligence."
"Criminal negligence, those are strong words, Richard," host and former Democratic adviser George Stephanopoulos said.
The Office of Personnel Management disclosed last week that the personal information of over 22 million individuals was compromised by the attack. Many of the individuals whose information was stolen work in sensitive areas of the U.S. government.
Experts fear the trove of information, which in many cases includes detailed information about individuals’ finances, criminal history, and romantic relationships, will be used by China to recruit spies or blackmail U.S. officials.