As Veterans Learned the DCCC Had Leaked Their Data, the VA’s Tech Chief Was Meeting With His Wife. She Runs the DCCC.

On February 8th, the Air Force notified two Republican candidates who were military veterans that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) contractor had improperly leaked their information. That same day, the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) chief technology officer met with his wife, the chairwoman of the DCCC, to discuss cybersecurity.

The VA’s assistant secretary, Kurt DelBene, had a calendar entry at 3:00 pm for “Meet w/ Suzan’s technology team (account security),” referring to his wife, Rep. Suzan DelBene (Wash.), the DCCC chairwoman. A copy of the calendar entry, obtained by the Washington Free Beacon, contained a Zoom link to the DCCC. Hours before the meeting, the Air Force informed the two veterans, Sam Peters and Kevin Dellicker, that the DCCC contractor had duped them into releasing their service records during the 2022 election, according to campaign disclosures.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) regards the issue as a matter of concern: “It wasn’t on just one person. It was all these Republicans running. We’re gonna have to just not clamp down on that, [but] look to see if it’s happened anywhere else.”

Kurt DelBene is a Biden appointee and is responsible for handling all privacy-related matters at the VA. He oversees the department’s Privacy Service, which ensures that the personally identifiable information (PII) of veterans is preserved and protected. In contrast, the DCCC, which his wife now chairs, faces backlash for using the social security numbers of at least seven Republican congressional candidates to obtain their private military service records through the Due Diligence Group, a contractor.

Michael Chamberlain, director of Protect the Public’s Trust, questions the optics of the meeting, saying that it warrants scrutiny, especially in light of the recent ethics violations of Biden administration officials. The DCCC confirmed that the Feb. 8 meeting with the DelBenes took place but denied it had anything to do with “DCCC political matters.” Instead, the committee indicated that Kurt DelBene was requested to ensure that it followed all cybersecurity protocols in place to prevent its private email addresses from being compromised by “bad actors” and “foreign adversaries.”

The DCCC has refused to accept any wrongdoing and maintained that “public records requests are a standard part of the research process.” In October 2022, Politico utilized some of the military records obtained by the Due Diligence Group to write a story about a former Republican congressional candidate, Jennifer-Ruth Green, who was sexually assaulted while serving in the Air Force. This resulted in the Air Force launching an internal investigation to look into the illegal release of military service records.