Rep. Issa asks Google to name all the US officials who were hit in Gmail attack

House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) wrote to Google CEO Larry Page on Monday requesting more information on the Gmail phishing attacks that targeted senior government personnel last month.

“This event is of particular concern to the committee not only because of our interest in the broader issue of cybersecurity and its national-security implications, but also because news accounts of this cyberattack have implicated the possible involvement of hackers from within the People’s Republic of China and senior U.S. government officials’ personal Google email (Gmail) accounts,” Issa wrote.

Issa calls news accounts of the incident “brief and vague” but notes they suggest that Google approached the Obama administration with information about hackers accessing the officials’ personal Gmail accounts.

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Issa and his predecessor as chairman, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), have accused the Obama and Bush administrations of allowing staffers to use personal email accounts for official business, in violation of the Presidential Records Act.

The letter asks asks the search giant to name all federal employees targeted in the attack and all communications related to Google’s
response, as well as any feedback from the administration. The information is requested as soon as possible but no later than the close of business on June 17.

The committee also directs Google to preserve all electronic communications since President Obama took office that relate to the email accounts of both military and civilian federal officials targeted in the attack.