Replies

because they “include software code and other technical information that is highly sensitive” and could give hackers

Which of course would be redacted anyway.

My guess is that MITRE told the WH that the site was seriously flawed as far as security was concerned. Probably the information got to Sebellius and/or Obama and they rejected it because the deadline was their most important priority.

Levin, Waxman, etc. are trying to muddy the waters by making Issa seem insensible to security issues because they know what's coming.

Dec 13, 2013: HHS to Issa: We Won't Comply With Your Subpeona Because We Don't Trust You "....The Health and Human Services Department told House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa that it won’t turn over documents related to the security of the Healthcare.gov website because it can’t trust him to keep secret information that could give hackers a roadmap to wreak havoc on the system. Issa has issued a subpoena to MITRE, a government contractor, to turn over unredacted copies of security-testing documents by noon Friday. At issue are website development plans MITRE drafted for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which is under HHS. Already, Issa has been given access to the documents he seeks “in camera” — meaning committee staff were able to review them in a room but not keep them — but he is seeking physical copies...Administration officials worry that Issa intends to put them in the public domain, which Esquea argues could compromise the security of the site...While agency letters to Capitol Hill tend to be very deferential, Esquea’s did little to veil the administration’s feelings about Issa’s trustworthiness....."

[My guess is that MITRE told the WH that the site was seriously flawed as far as security was concerned. Probably the information got to Sibelius and/or Obama and they rejected it because the deadline was their most important priority.]

Agree. There could be potential criminal liability here.