thedrifter
06-13-06, 01:13 PM
June 19, 2006
Loss prevention
Theft of veterans’ personal data spurs outcry from lawmakers
By Rick Maze
Times staff writer
Lawmakers are promising to protect service members and veterans from identity theft after admissions from the Department of Veterans Affairs that personal information on up to 80 percent of the military was stolen.
The Pentagon, which discovered the records of 2.2 million active-duty, Guard and reserve members were part of a larger theft of data on more than 26.5 million veterans, plans to notify people through a notice on individual Leave and Earnings Statements, said Army Lt. Col. Jeremy Martin, a Defense Department spokesman.
The names, birthdates and Social Security numbers of 1.1 million active-duty, 430,000 National Guard and 645,000 reserve personnel may have been included in computer files stolen from the home of a VA employee who had a laptop, external hard drive, compact discs and flash memory sticks filled with various databases, VA officials said.
Exactly what information was taken remains unclear, as news has seeped out through several announcements. First came word that the names, Social Security numbers, telephone numbers, addresses and birthdates of 26.5 million veterans were stolen.
Later, VA expanded the list to include some military survivors and veterans exposed to mustard gas, and again to add some Navy personnel who had re-enlisted and National Guard members who had demobilized, before unveiling the latest wrinkle — which added 2.2 million active-duty and reserve personnel.
VA officials said in a statement that law enforcement agencies investigating the incident “have no indication that the stolen information has been used to commit identity theft,” but congressional aides monitoring the investigation say it can take months before a person learns someone has stolen his or her identity.
Rep. Steve Buyer, R-Va., the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee chairman, said June 8 he has no confidence that the VA knows about everything that was stolen, but vowed to take whatever steps are necessary, including creating a new veterans’ claims system, to protect anyone whose identity is stolen as a result of the VA’s lapse from suffering financially.
“To me, it is important that government takes responsibility for this breach of faith and mitigates any loss,” said Buyer, an Army Reserve colonel.
Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., an Air Force veteran, has a specific plan. She introduced a bill May 25 that would create a special office to handle claims and have the government pay for credit monitoring and credit reports.
Democrats have introduced similar bills in the House and Senate. Rep. John Salazar, D-Colo., chief sponsor of one such bill, said the government must act quickly. Misinformation and delays about what records may be lost “hurts veterans and military families at a time when we should be taking aggressive steps to protect their identities and financial standing,” he said.
The situation began in early May, when a VA employee violated policy by taking home a huge cache of data on VA and military beneficiaries. The employee’s Maryland home was burglarized, and all the data was lost.
“The more you poke at a cow pie, the more it stinks,” Salazar said. “The last month has been an embarrassing display, with the VA consistently failing to provide timely information about the security breach.”
Rep. John McHugh, R-N.Y., chairman of the House Armed Services personnel subcommittee, said the theft of personal data of current service members appears to be an unexpected consequence of efforts to increase data sharing between the Pentagon and the Department of Veterans Affairs to better serve people.
Best intentions
“The intent was seamless transition, and that is a good thing,” he said. But no one imagined at the time that a VA employee would take records home, without permission, and that a laptop computer and data storage devices containing military and veterans’ records would be stolen, McHugh said.
“We have far more questions than answers,” McHugh said. “We have to assume the worst, that almost any Department of Defense data shared with the Department of Veterans Affairs could have been lost in this theft.”
Martin said defense officials “don’t believe that the data loss will exceed the current numbers announced by the VA,” and promised any new information would be “promptly reported to all affected service personnel.”
Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson, testifying June 8 before the House Government Reform Committee, said he shares lawmakers’ outrage.
“I’m at a loss over the fact that an employee would take this data home against VA policies and put so many people at risk,” he said.
He also said he is “gravely concerned” that it took 13 days for the employee’s supervisors to notify him of the security breach.
Still, he accepted full responsibility. “I’m in charge of the department, and I will fix this,” he said. “It won’t be easy, and it won’t be overnight — but it’s doable.”
Buyer said the situation is nothing less than a breach of fiduciary responsibility by the government.
“We were the custodians of the information that was lost, and we now need to mitigate this loss, protect veterans and right the wrongs” of the VA’s information technology system, he said.
Staff writers Gordon Trowbridge and Aimee Curl contributed to this story.
Ellie
Loss prevention
Theft of veterans’ personal data spurs outcry from lawmakers
By Rick Maze
Times staff writer
Lawmakers are promising to protect service members and veterans from identity theft after admissions from the Department of Veterans Affairs that personal information on up to 80 percent of the military was stolen.
The Pentagon, which discovered the records of 2.2 million active-duty, Guard and reserve members were part of a larger theft of data on more than 26.5 million veterans, plans to notify people through a notice on individual Leave and Earnings Statements, said Army Lt. Col. Jeremy Martin, a Defense Department spokesman.
The names, birthdates and Social Security numbers of 1.1 million active-duty, 430,000 National Guard and 645,000 reserve personnel may have been included in computer files stolen from the home of a VA employee who had a laptop, external hard drive, compact discs and flash memory sticks filled with various databases, VA officials said.
Exactly what information was taken remains unclear, as news has seeped out through several announcements. First came word that the names, Social Security numbers, telephone numbers, addresses and birthdates of 26.5 million veterans were stolen.
Later, VA expanded the list to include some military survivors and veterans exposed to mustard gas, and again to add some Navy personnel who had re-enlisted and National Guard members who had demobilized, before unveiling the latest wrinkle — which added 2.2 million active-duty and reserve personnel.
VA officials said in a statement that law enforcement agencies investigating the incident “have no indication that the stolen information has been used to commit identity theft,” but congressional aides monitoring the investigation say it can take months before a person learns someone has stolen his or her identity.
Rep. Steve Buyer, R-Va., the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee chairman, said June 8 he has no confidence that the VA knows about everything that was stolen, but vowed to take whatever steps are necessary, including creating a new veterans’ claims system, to protect anyone whose identity is stolen as a result of the VA’s lapse from suffering financially.
“To me, it is important that government takes responsibility for this breach of faith and mitigates any loss,” said Buyer, an Army Reserve colonel.
Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., an Air Force veteran, has a specific plan. She introduced a bill May 25 that would create a special office to handle claims and have the government pay for credit monitoring and credit reports.
Democrats have introduced similar bills in the House and Senate. Rep. John Salazar, D-Colo., chief sponsor of one such bill, said the government must act quickly. Misinformation and delays about what records may be lost “hurts veterans and military families at a time when we should be taking aggressive steps to protect their identities and financial standing,” he said.
The situation began in early May, when a VA employee violated policy by taking home a huge cache of data on VA and military beneficiaries. The employee’s Maryland home was burglarized, and all the data was lost.
“The more you poke at a cow pie, the more it stinks,” Salazar said. “The last month has been an embarrassing display, with the VA consistently failing to provide timely information about the security breach.”
Rep. John McHugh, R-N.Y., chairman of the House Armed Services personnel subcommittee, said the theft of personal data of current service members appears to be an unexpected consequence of efforts to increase data sharing between the Pentagon and the Department of Veterans Affairs to better serve people.
Best intentions
“The intent was seamless transition, and that is a good thing,” he said. But no one imagined at the time that a VA employee would take records home, without permission, and that a laptop computer and data storage devices containing military and veterans’ records would be stolen, McHugh said.
“We have far more questions than answers,” McHugh said. “We have to assume the worst, that almost any Department of Defense data shared with the Department of Veterans Affairs could have been lost in this theft.”
Martin said defense officials “don’t believe that the data loss will exceed the current numbers announced by the VA,” and promised any new information would be “promptly reported to all affected service personnel.”
Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson, testifying June 8 before the House Government Reform Committee, said he shares lawmakers’ outrage.
“I’m at a loss over the fact that an employee would take this data home against VA policies and put so many people at risk,” he said.
He also said he is “gravely concerned” that it took 13 days for the employee’s supervisors to notify him of the security breach.
Still, he accepted full responsibility. “I’m in charge of the department, and I will fix this,” he said. “It won’t be easy, and it won’t be overnight — but it’s doable.”
Buyer said the situation is nothing less than a breach of fiduciary responsibility by the government.
“We were the custodians of the information that was lost, and we now need to mitigate this loss, protect veterans and right the wrongs” of the VA’s information technology system, he said.
Staff writers Gordon Trowbridge and Aimee Curl contributed to this story.
Ellie