A House of Representatives committee with broad investigative jurisdiction has turned up the heat on Target Corp, demanding that the No. 2 U.S. retailer turn over internal documents and messages describing how and when it learned of a recent massive consumer data breach.
In a letter, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform requested that Target turn over all documents or communications generated between November 1 and December 13, in which Target employees or “agents” discuss “any suspicion” that a data breach had occurred.
The committee set a deadline of March 1 for Target to turn over the materials. If the company does not fully comply, the committee majority has the power to issue a subpoena forcing the company’s compliance.
The lengthy breach of Target’s computer networks over the holiday shopping period resulted in the theft of an estimated 40 million credit and debit card records and 70 million other records with customer information, such as addresses and telephone numbers.
In its letter, dated February 24, the committee says it also wants any documents generated between November 1 and December 19 referring to discussions about notifying others about the data breach, and any documents generated since December 12 in which any federal agency advised the company to avoid providing information to Congress.
Congressional sources said that this is the first time the majority on the Republican-led committee had sent such a request to Target.
The sources said the letter was prompted, at least in part, after committee officials felt dissatisfied with responses given by Isaac Reyes, an official with Target’s government relations department, during a January 30 conference call with the committee about the data breach.
The letter was signed by Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, a California Republican who has garnered headlines for his fierce criticism of the performance of Obama administration on a wide range of issues.
The committee has wide jurisdiction to investigate government and private business activity.
