ATF official under investigation for possible data breach: report

by Martin Matishak - 06/27/15 2:29 PM ET

A senior official at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is under investigation for possibly accessing the personal data of other agency employees.

The Justice Department probe is to determine whether Scott Sweetow, a deputy assistant director for strategic intelligence and information at ATF headquarters in Washington, sent employee information to his personal email account, CNN reported.

“It appears somebody is actively seeking to damage my reputation,” Sweetow said in a statement to the cable news network.

{mosads}“While I respect your desire to look into items which may cross your desk, other than to confirm I am a SES [senior executive service] agent assigned to our National HQ and what limited details I place in social media, I am very guarded about my personal life, and any work products in which I may be working. Because of this, I would direct you to our office of Public and Government Affairs in our National HQ,” he added.

The possible breach comes as top officials at the Office of Personnel Management face intense public and congressional scrutiny over a hack of a database that contained the personal information of millions of federal employees.

“As a general policy, ATF does not comment on personnel matters. We respect the rights of all our employees. We do not discuss specific personnel issues, actions, or the existence of ongoing investigations,” the agency told CNN in a statement.

A Justice Department spokesman said the agency “has security solutions in place that detect the transmission of sensitive personally identifiable information outside the Department’s computer network.”