OPM director Katherine Archuleta resigns after massive data breach

WASHINGTON, July 10 (UPI) -- Office of Personnel Management Director Katherine Archuleta resigned Friday amid growing criticism over her handling of a massive data breach that resulted in the theft of personal information from millions of people.

Archuleta, the director since November 2013, personally submitted her letter of resignation Friday morning to President Obama, saying new leadership was needed at the federal personnel agency to "move beyond the current challenges." The president accepted her resignation.

"Today I informed the OPM workforce that I am stepping down as the leader of this remarkable agency and the remarkable people who work for it," Archuleta said in a statement. "This morning, I offered, and the president accepted, my resignation as the director of the Office of Personnel Management. I conveyed to the president that I believe it is best for me to step aside and allow new leadership to step in, enabling the agency to move beyond the current challenges and allowing the employees at OPM to continue their important work."

Beth Cobert, the deputy director of management at the Office of Management and Budget, will fill in temporarily until a replacement is found.

Thursday, the OPM announced the data breach in late 2014 was more extensive than first thought, saying information from 21.5 million people were compromised in addition to the personal data of 4.2 million current and former federal employees.

The newly announced breach comes from people who underwent background checks for federal jobs, including current, former and prospective employees who applied in 2000 or after. It includes social security numbers and 1.1 million fingerprints.

The announcement came the same day a second federal workers union announced it sued the OPM and Archuleta for violated members' constitutional rights by failing to protect their private information.