Democrats seek answers on impact of Russian hack on DOJ, courts

A group of Senate Democrats led by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (Conn.) this week demanded answers on the full impact on the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Administrative Office of the United States Courts (AO) from the recently uncovered Russian hack of IT group SolarWinds.

“We are alarmed at the potential large-scale breach of sensitive and confident records and communications held by the DOJ and the AO, and write to request information about the impact and the steps being taken to mitigate the threat of this intrusion,” the senators wrote in a letter sent to senior DOJ and AO leaders on Wednesday, but provided to The Hill on Friday.

The lawmakers, who also include incoming Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and outgoing ranking member Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), asked that both agencies provide briefings on steps they are taking to respond to the breach, which DOJ and AO have both confirmed they were impacted by.