'Massive' data transfers from Wasserman-Schultz aide a 'substantial security threat'

A Republican lawmaker on Tuesday described the “massive” data transfers on government servers by a former IT aide to Democratic Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz as “a substantial security threat.”

“These facts, standing alone, indicate a substantial security threat,” Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Scott Perry said of the Imran Awan case during an informal hearing of Republican House members on Capitol Hill on Tuesday.

Awan pleaded not guilty in September to multiple federal charges including bank fraud and conspiracy. A grand jury had returned an indictment in August in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia charging Imran Awan and his wife, Hina Alvi, with a total of four charges.

Perry, a member of the Homeland Security subcommittee on cyber security, said Tuesday that the House Office of Inspector General tracked the network usage of Awan and his associates on House servers and found that a “massive” amount of data was flowing from the networks.

Awan and other IT aides for House Democrats had been on investigators’ radar for months over concerns of possible double-billing, alleged equipment theft and access to sensitive computer systems. Most lawmakers fired Awan in February, but Wasserman Schultz had kept him on until his arrest in July.

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