Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) told Credit Union Times that Congress should hold hearings to investigate the Target security breach.
"Yeah, I do think an airing of what occurred is important for Congress to understand and to be able to adjust any laws that may be applicable so as to either get at or alleviate that threat. The American people also need to know the extent of the breach and the ramifications of it," Johnson told Credit Union Times this week on Capitol Hill.
"If we simply rely on the company investigation to gather all the facts and then disseminate it to the public, that may not be as clean and thorough and valuable to the public, to the victims, as it should be. So, I would support an oversight investigatory hearing to probe into that matter," he added.
CUNA and NAFCU have called on congressional leaders to hold hearings on data security. Democrats on the House Financial Services Committee wrote Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) about the need for committee hearings on the Target breach that may have affected as many as 100 million individual accounts.
A spokesperson for Hensarling would not say if any future hearings would specifically investigate the Target situation.
"I'm sure that there are some law enforcement aspects about this that should not be in the public domain at this time. No one has been charged so I'm sure that the investigation is ongoing and we would not want to do anything to disrupt that," Johnson said Wednesday.
"But at some point after this has kind of gotten into a more ripened position I think there should be some hearings just to air what has been occurred," he added.
Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the Judiciary Committee and Tom Carper (D-Del.), chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, each introduced data security legislation in the wake of the Target security breach.
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