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White House: 'No Relationship' Between Increased Federal Building Security and 'Activity of Concern' on White House Computer Network
Uniformed Secret Service officers walk along the lawn on the North side of the White House in Washington, Saturday, Sept. 20, 2014. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

White House: 'No Relationship' Between Increased Federal Building Security and 'Activity of Concern' on White House Computer Network

The White House said Wednesday there was is no connection between Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson's decision to implement additional security measures at federal buildings and the White House's admission late Tuesday that some "activity of concern" had been identified on a computer network used inside the Executive Office of the President.

Uniformed Secret Service officers walk along the lawn on the North side of the White House in Washington, Saturday, Sept. 20, 2014.  (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) Uniformed Secret Service officers walk along the lawn on the North side of the White House in Washington, Saturday, Sept. 20, 2014. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

"There is no relationship between the activity of concern on our network and the additional security measures at federal buildings," a White House spokesman said in an email to TheBlaze.

The activity occurred on an unclassified computer network and resulted in some temporary outages and connectivity losses for users. Those outages and losses, the spokesman told TheBlaze, are solely the result of defense measures the U.S. government itself has taken.

"Any such activity is something we take very seriously. In this case, we took immediate measures to evaluate and mitigate the activity," the spokesman said.

The White House did not say who or what it believes is responsible for the activity.

Johnson said Tuesday the additional security measures being implemented at federal buildings in Washington, D.C., and other major cities across the country are only precautionary.

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, June 24, 2014. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak) Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, June 24, 2014. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

“The reasons for this action are self-evident: the continued public calls by terrorist organizations for attacks on the homeland and elsewhere, including against law enforcement another government officials, and the acts of violence targeted at government personnel and installations in Canada and elsewhere recently," Johnson said in a statement.

White House press secretary Josh Earnest was asked during the Wednesday press briefing if the Russian government might have been behind the effort.

“The White House has detected activity concerning the White House network,” Earnest said. “The administration is doing all we can to determine where the activity originated.”

Earnest added that “it would be unwise to discuss here” what the administration has learned about the matter so far.

Fred Lucas contributed to this report. 

Editor's note: This post was updated to include comments from White House press secretary Josh Earnest.

Follow Jon Street (@JonStreet) on Twitter

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