Posted on 08/14/2014 1:11:56 PM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
IRS contractors without background checks had access to sensitive information, potentially putting confidential taxpayer data at risk, according to a federal audit.
The Treasury inspector general for tax administration found more than a dozen cases in which the IRS awarded contracts that required access to taxpayer information without background investigations or before those checks were completed.
Under IRS policy, background checks are mandatory for contractors who work with that kind of data.
"Allowing contractor employees access to taxpayer data without appropriate background investigations exposes taxpayers to increased risk of fraud and identity theft,” said J. Russell George, the inspector general.
George’s audit comes as the IRS escalates its efforts to combat identity theft and as lawmakers investigating the agency’s improper scrutiny of Tea Party groups have questioned the IRS’s handling of confidential information.
In its report, the inspector general’s office even made a glancing reference to Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor who leaked classified information about U.S. surveillance efforts.
Contractors who have access to sensitive information, which also includes employee and law enforcement data, must undergo a background check if they’re with the IRS for more than six months.
But the inspector general's audit found five contracts where contractors had not had any background checks out of the 28 total contracts reviewed. In one of those cases, a contractor working on printing and mailing tax forms was given a disk containing 1.4 million taxpayer names, Social Security numbers and other personal information.
A separate contract, for couriers, had given a daily route to an ex-convict who served more than 20 years for arson, the report added.
In another 12 cases, IRS staffers had started background checks for contractors, but contractors were allowed to start working before those investigations had concluded.
John Koskinen, the IRS commissioner, has said that battling tax fraud is a top priority of the agency, but he acknowledged it’s a growing problem.
Separately, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) referred former IRS official Lois Lerner, the figure at the center of the Tea Party controversy, to the Justice Department for reckless handling of taxpayer information.
In its response to the report, the IRS said it was “committed to ensuring that background checks are conducted,” but declined to sign on to one of the inspector general’s recommendation.
That recommendation suggested the IRS should consider changes to a waiver that expert witnesses get from background checks. The other recommendations call for increased training for staffers and stronger policies for contract workers.
” IRS contractors without background checks had access to sensitive information, potentially putting confidential taxpayer data at risk, “
How could IRS contractors be more dangerous than the IRS?
I want to know when people will be jailed over all of this. Laws are being broken by the minute but yet no one is jailed. This is completely unacceptable.
“...background checks are mandatory for contractors who work with that kind of data...”
Sorry, no one believes statements like that any more. After all, we’ve had two successive presidents who not only would not pass background checks, the one currently infecting the White House would have been arrested had he (it) been subjected to the kind of background checks we minions have to pass. Of course, since he was a quota baby supported by the MSM and libtards, we were fed all kinds of lies - the greatest being that his IQ was to right of 100.
IRS wrongly ILLEGALLY allowed contractors access to sensitive data
.... the greatest being that his IQ was to right of 100.
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I think that’s a little high.
Democrats had to build a database on voters bigger than anyone could possibly conceive.
Hillary illegally accessed a thousand FBI files without criminal prosecution.
Here is what I imagine (worse case). All SS numbers and names are compromised. I suspect that the information is being used for a major cyber attack. Everyone goes to bed in the U.S. and next morning everything has been stolen out of every account. Worst case, so rest easy most worst cases never happen.
“How could IRS contractors be more dangerous than the IRS?”
If those contractors are ACORN-owned, which a high proportion of third party contractors with the feds are, they could do a lot of damage.
It’s funny that when a Federal agency violates the law there is no punishment, no consequence, no penalty.
You try it.
Never thought of that. Thanks.
A VP at a defense contractor where I worked said it was not appropriate to do background checks as they automatically ruled out hiring people who had prison records. (She was the head of ethics, not security.) Her contention was that people who had made a mistake should not be ruled out. After all, they had paid their debt. She said she would hire people with prison records in preference to people who didn’t have them because they deserved a chance. I said, “Don’t people who have kept their noses clean and lived a virtuous life deserve a chance too?” Well, not as much as somebody who had a record because they needed help. Perhaps this is the IRS’ thinking too. (Oh, this VP was from California.)
It’s about time the adults took the IRS back
Everyone at the irs should be fired.
Flat tax: 90% of IRS employees can be fired.
Fair Tax: 97% of IRS employees can be fired.
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