WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), speaking at a Senate Finance Committee hearing today, said that the recent security breach at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is “so deeply alarming” and that “we urgently need to understand what happened, and how IRS walls were breached.”

 “Clearly, there is a war going on. On one side we have the government, taxpayers, and business. And on the other, hackers and criminals, organized syndicates and lone wolves. Perhaps even national governments,” said Roberts. “Right now, it looks like we are losing this war, and so we need to use this latest breach to consider how we can regroup to win this fight, because it is a fight -- it is a war.”

The hearing, with witnesses IRS Commissioner John Koskinen and IRS Inspector General Russell George, was designed to examine how the recent data breach at the IRS exposed the personal information of more than 100,000 taxpayers.

Roberts’ full statement, as prepared for delivery, is below:

Data security and privacy are core issues for government at every level. As we can see from this breach, the Federal government, in particular, faces grave challenges in implementing information security programs.

The fact that IRS has been hit with this breach, and has been targeted by -- from what we currently know -- foreign hackers, is so deeply alarming that I am almost speechless. Almost but not quite.

I find this situation a paradox of the largest order. Apparently, IRS has no problem at all protecting data and information pertaining to the targeting of conservative groups applying for exempt status, yet has little capacity to safeguard the critical financial information of the average taxpayer.

I am amazed, because my staff tells me that just prior to the breach being made public, privacy experts were in to brief them on how safe the data contained in the Get Transcript system is. I guess they were off the mark.

What happened in this breach is just unacceptable. The agency, the Inspector General, GAO, the committees with oversight, have been concerned about these threats for years.

In fact, the GAO reported just this March that the data under control of the IRS is “unnecessarily vulnerable to inappropriate and undetected use.”

Alarmingly, the IRS appears unprepared to adequately protect taxpayer information.

Clearly, there is a war going on. On one side we have the government, taxpayers, and business. And on the other, hackers and criminals, organized syndicates and lone wolves. Perhaps even national governments.

Right now, it looks like we are losing this war, and so we need to use this latest breach to consider how we can regroup to win this fight, because it is a fight -- it is a war.

What steps must be taken now to address this breach? What are the immediate implications? What do we need to do long-term to create an environment where we can rapidly and proactively set defenses so that we can protect this data, knowing that we are always going to be catching up to the data thieves and fraudsters.

My concern is whether the IRS has the tools and mindset to achieve better security and whether it is even capable of safeguarding this core function.

To watch Roberts’ full statement and questions, click the video below.

Earlier this year, Senator Roberts and U.S. Senator Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) introduced legislation with 33 cosponsors to prevent further attempts by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to exploit bureaucratic loopholes to restrict the free speech rights of the same types of tax-exempt social welfare organizations victimized in the IRS political targeting scandal.

Roberts has also introduced legislation to block federal employees who are delinquent on their taxes from receiving a bonus or award. At issue was a 2014 report from the Treasury Department’s Inspector General for Tax Administration on Internal Revenue Service on bonuses awarded to personnel who violated tax laws or who have been subject to serious infractions of employee policy.

According to the Inspector General, close to $3 million was awarded to IRS staff with violations on their records, with about half of that amount going to people with tax violations on their record.

Roberts is a senior member of the Senate Committee on Finance.

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