A House committee still struggling to get information about HealthCare.gov’s security out of the Obama administration has subpoenaed the White House’s former top tech official, Todd Park.
Formerly the U.S. Chief Technology Officer, Park was President Obama’s top technological adviser during HealthCare.gov’s launch last fall. Now the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology wants Park to testify about his role in overseeing Healthcare.gov, especially its security features.
Park has testified to Congress about the website before, claiming that he wasn’t particularly involved before the botched launch. He told the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform that he didn’t have “detailed knowledge” of HealthCare.gov before its not-so-grand opening Oct. 1, 2013, and that he was “not even familiar with the development and testing regimen that happened prior to October 1.”
But the committee published a staff report Tuesday which includes documents that suggest Park had a more extensive role with HealthCare.gov’s development than he led the Oversight Committee to believe. Park “communicated regularly” with federal officials and contractors working on the Obamacare website and co-chaired a steering committee on information technology in the exchanges, which oversaw security protocols while contractors were building HealthCare.gov.
“Given the emails provided to Congress by [the Department of Health and Human Services], it appears that Mr. Park purposefully and willfully misrepresented his role and responsibilities with the HealthCare.gov website,” the report states.
The subpoena requires Park to testify to the committee on Nov. 19; the committee’s already subpoenaed the White House for any documents that concern Park’s efforts to help build HealthCare.gov. It’s another attempt for the committee to get access to Park, who was scheduled to brief the oversight subcommittee in September.
A statement from the committee says that the White House canceled that briefing less than 24 hours beforehand because it refused to allow for there to be an official transcript of the discussion.
“The Obama administration has failed to provide this committee with information about the security of the Obamacare website,” committee chairman Rep. Lamar Smith said in a statement. “What is the White House trying to hide?”
Smith pointed to the one reported successful breach of HealthCare.gov, which occurred in July but wasn’t revealed until September. A hacker broke into a test server to insert code that attacked other websites and officials maintain that no personal information was stolen. (RELATED: Hacker Hits HealthCare.gov)
The Obama administration has long been close-lipped on documents related to Obamacare’s very messy first year. The Oversight Committee has also had to subpoena documents from top Obamacare administrator Marilyn Tavenner about HealthCare.gov’s security. (RELATED: Issa On HealthCare.gov Attack: Tavenner Must Testify)