Katherine Archuleta Steps Down From OPM

Katherine Archuleta, the director of the Office of Personnel Management, has resigned from her post amid a cascading scandal over her handling of a massive breach of federal employee data, a congressional source has told National Journal.

Archuleta, who has been at the helm of OPM since November 2013, submitted her resignation Friday morning, according to the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

OPM announced Thursday that the size of a hack that began last year led to the pilfering of sensitive personal information of 21.5 million former and current employees. That admission, following weeks of scrutiny on Capitol Hill after OPM acknowledge a separate data breach that affected 4.2 million, led to a rush of lawmakers who called for her ousting, including the top three House Republicans and Democratic Sen. Mark Warner, who sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Beth Cobert, OPM's deputy director for management, will take over Archuleta's job, according to the source.

Archuleta released a statement Friday afternoon on her resignation. The full text is below.

Today I informed the OPM workforce that I am stepping down as the leader of this remarkable agency and the remarkable people who work for it. This morning, I offered, and the President accepted, my resignation as the Director of the Office of Personnel Management. I conveyed to the President that I believe it is best for me to step aside and allow new leadership to step in, enabling the agency to move beyond the current challenges and allowing the employees at OPM to continue their important work.

Leading this agency has been the highlight of my career. The OPM family is comprised of some of the most dedicated, capable and hardworking individuals in the Federal Government. Each of them does so much in service of our country – whether it is through protecting our security by conducting background investigations; working to ensure Federal employees and their families have the best possible health coverage available; or working to assist our Federal retirees and their families in the smooth processing of their annuities. I thank them, from the bottom of my heart. 

While we have accomplished much together, in particular, I’m proud of the work we have done to develop the REDI initiative and our IT Strategic Plan. Both of these efforts have transformed our ability to serve our customer agencies and ensure that the Federal Government is able to attract, hire, engage and develop a talented and diverse federal workforce. 

I am honored to have led this organization and to have served alongside the incredible team at OPM. I have complete confidence in their ability to continue fulfill OPM’s important mission of recruiting, retaining and honoring a world-class workforce to serve the American People.

I conveyed to the president that I believe it is best for me to step aside and allow new leadership that will enable the agency to move beyond the current challenges and allow the employees at OPM to continue their important work.

This story is breaking and will be updated.