House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) sought more information on Thursday on the decision by the White House to withhold and redact documents the committee subpoenaed from the Department of Health and Human Services about HealthCare.gov’s launch.
“During a meeting between our staffs, representatives of your office stated that the White House did in fact apply redactions to [an e-mail trail with HHS Chief Information Officer Frank Baitman],” Issa said in a letter sent to White House Counsel Kathryn Ruemmler. “They were unwilling to provide further details about the redactions.”
In the email trail cited by Issa, dated Sept. 3, Baitman was shown to be involved in preparing talking points requested by the White House on the site’s security measures.
“According to the department, a portion of this e-mail and the attached list of talking points were not previously produced because the document ‘raised important Executive Branch institutional concerns that extend beyond HHS and [the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services],” Issa’s letter said.
The email chain also shows that senior White House officials asked HHS and CMS officials how to validate the security of the online marketplace. The exchange, however, has many more redactions than previously offered by HHS.
Additionally, the letter reveals that, in August 2013, senior White House officials requested CMS produce an internal briefing memo for senior staff detailing the problems with security testing still plaguing the marketplace. Several risks tracked by CMS were cited in the memo, which emphasized the problems CMS was facing in completing security testing before the Oct. 1 launch.
Issa’s letter seeks details on the number of documents reviewed and withheld, as well as a general description of any redactions applied.