The U.S. Department of the Treasury has canceled all contracts with consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton, according to an announcement by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. The department had 31 active contracts with the company, amounting to $4.8 million in annual spending and $21 million in total obligations.
Secretary Bessent stated, "President Trump has entrusted his cabinet to root out waste, fraud, and abuse, and canceling these contracts is an essential step to increasing Americans’ trust in government." He added, "Booz Allen failed to implement adequate safeguards to protect sensitive data, including the confidential taxpayer information it had access to through its contracts with the Internal Revenue Service."
A significant factor in the decision was a security breach that occurred between 2018 and 2020. During this period, Charles Edward Littlejohn, an employee of Booz Allen Hamilton, stole and leaked confidential tax returns and related information for hundreds of thousands of taxpayers. The Internal Revenue Service determined that approximately 406,000 taxpayers were affected by this data breach. Littlejohn has since pled guilty to felony charges for disclosing confidential tax information without authorization.
