IG Report Says ECFS Breakdown Wasn't DDoS Attack, Pai and Rosenworcel Say

to statements from Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel. Pai initially blamed the ECFS failures on such an attack, and said Monday the report shows then-FCC Chief Information Officer David Bray provided “inaccurate information” to his office about the cause of the issues. “The Inspector General Report tells us what we knew all along: the FCC’s claim that it was the victim of a DDoS attack during the net neutrality proceeding is bogus,” said Rosenworcel. Pai said he's ”deeply disappointed” that Bray provided his staff with incorrect information. “I’m also disappointed that some working under the former CIO apparently either disagreed with the information that he was presenting or had questions about it, yet didn’t feel comfortable communicating their concerns to me or my office,” Pai said. The report, which hasn’t been publicly released, also “debunks” theories that Pai or his office knew the information from Bray about the alleged DDoS attack was false but were allowing the story to spread for political purposes, Pai said. According to Pai’s statement, the report shows Bray twice told Pai’s Chief of Staff Matthew Berry that “external folks deliberately trying to tie-up the server” caused the ECFS problems. Pai emphasized that Bray was hired during his predecessor former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s administration, and in part blamed the incident on the prior leadership. “It has become clear that in addition to a flawed comment system, we inherited from the prior Administration a culture in which many members of the Commission’s career IT staff were hesitant to express disagreement with the Commission’s former CIO in front of FCC management,” Pai said. He said he will make it clear that IT staff should speak up if incorrect information is being provided to FCC leadership, and the report “highlights the need for the FCC to revamp ECFS.” He praised Congress for approving a request for funding for an ECFS redesign (see 1807110044). “It’s unfortunate that this agency’s energy and resources needed to be spent debunking this implausible claim,” Rosenworcel said. An FCC spokesperson told us the OIG would decide when to release the report. The OIG report is separate from a Government Accountability Office report requested by lawmakers on the same issue. The OIG,Wheeler and Bray didn’t comment.