Former CBS News correspondent Sharyl Attkisson has made her accusations against the Obama administration official, as she has sued the Justice Department over the alleged hacking of her computers. According to a press release, Attkisson has filed administrative claims under the Federal Tort Claims Act against the Department of Justice, the U.S. Postal Service, and certain unnamed employees and/or agents of the federal government.
In June of 2013, CBS confirmed that Attkisson’s computer had indeed been “accessed by an unauthorized, external, unknown party on multiple occasions late in 2012,” but was unable to identify a culprit.
“While no malicious code was found, forensic analysis revealed an intruder had executed commands that appeared to involve search and exfiltration of data.This party also used sophisticated methods to remove all possible indications of unauthorized activity and alter system times to cause further confusion,” said CBS at the time.
From the beginning, Attkisson hinted that she thought the federal government could be behind the hacks. The Justice Department has denied the accusations, saying,
“To our knowledge, the Justice Department has never compromised Ms. Attkisson’s computers, or otherwise sought any information from or concerning any telephone, computer, or other media device she may own or use.”
“The personal rights secured by our Constitution have a long and accepted history. At the very core of those rights is the right to be free in our own homes from unreasonable governmental intrusion. Although I would have much preferred to have resolved this efficiently with dialogue and disclosure, until the government is open, honest, and fully truthful with my family about what transpired, we have chosen to use the only means available to us as citizens to try and force full disclosure and honest answers to the many questions that have been raised during the investigation conducted to date,” said Attkisson.
According to Politico, there have been some inconsistencies in Attkisson’s story. In a book, published after the hacks occurred, Attkisson claims to know the person(s) responsible for the attack.
From Politico:
Yet in an interview with Huffington Post Live … Attkisson said she didn’t know who was responsible: “The forensics says that there was a government tie to this… [that] doesn’t mean I know who was on the other end or was it an organization or was it a person, a rogue person, I don’t have the answer to those questions, I just know that there’s that government tie.”
Media Matters flagged the inconsistencies in Attkisson’s explanation … Yet when reached by email, she told POLITICO she would not address the matter because Media Matters was an unreliable, partisan organization.
Attkisson worked for CBS until March of 2014