Outrage grows over massive hack of US government

Washington 

Outrage grew today over the massive hack of the US government, an incident which puts Washington in a quandary over dealing with China, the main suspect in the attack.

Lawmakers and employee union leaders expressed disbelief over the staggering numbers affected -- some 21.5 million people including current and former government workers, applicants, contractors and spouses of those who underwent background checks for security clearances. 

That number is on top of a previously disclosed 4.2 million federal employees whose records were stolen. With overlap of the two groups, the total number affected was 22.1 million, according to the Office of Personnel Management. 

Democratic US Senator Barbara Mikulski said the disclosure "is as outrageous and unacceptable as it is devastating," adding that "this erodes confidence going forward that the federal government will be able to protect federal employees whose personal data -- social security numbers, dates of birth, fingerprints -- has been stolen."

The results of an investigation released Thursday show hackers accessed personal, financial and health data, in addition to fingerprints of some and information about spouses and cohabitants of employees.

The National Treasury Employees Union, which has sued over the breach, said the government's offer of three years of fraud monitoring was woefully inadequate.