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[igotthisguitar]

U.S. Veterans' Data Theft May Cost $500 Million
Thu May 25, 2006 1:09 PM ET

By Joel Rothstein
WASHINGTON, May 25 (Reuters) - The head of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs faced angry lawmakers on Thursday and described how the theft of a device the size of an iPod containing personal data on 26.5 million veterans may cost taxpayers as much as $500 million.

"As a veteran myself ... I am mad as hell," Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson told the House Committee on Veterans Affairs.

Nicholson said a department employee who had taken the data home without authorization was placed on administrative leave and "other people are also in my sights as a result of this."

The data was stolen from the employee's home in Maryland.

Nicholson said he could not promise the government would cover all potential losses by veterans, but suggested Congress pass a law to do so.

"There is no sign that any of this (stolen names, Social Security numbers and birth dates) is being used at this time," Nicholson said. Criminals can use such data in credit-card fraud and other identity theft scams.

Asked how much it would cost to prevent and cover potential losses, Nicholson estimated "way north of $100 million" and did not rule out a total cost as high as $500 million.

Members of the panel, however, said they see the incident as part of broader administrative problems in the department. Some Democrats called for Nicholson's resignation.

"This is a defining moment of your leadership," said panel chairman Rep. Steve Buyer, an Indiana Republican. "It is not just a question of some low level employee."

Nicholson told the panel the data "did not include any of the VA's electronic health records." But Rep. Bob Filner, a California Democrat, pressed the Bush Cabinet secretary until he acknowledged the stolen data contained some information on the medical conditions of nearly 3 million veterans.

While the stolen disk drive did not contain detailed medical records, it did contain codes that describe physical disabilities, Nicholson said.

Filner accused the department of having "a culture of indifference," adding that veterans will have to be vigilant "for decades" to make sure they do not become victims of identity thieves.

Continued ...

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� Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

[Gopher]

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[igotthisguitar]

Veterans official steps down after "theft"
By HOPE YEN, Associated Press Writer
Tue May 30, 7:24 PM ET

WASHINGTON - A Veterans Affairs deputy assistant secretary who didn't immediately notify top officials about a theft of 26.5 million veterans' personal information is stepping down, citing missteps that led to the security breach.



Michael H. McLendon, deputy assistant secretary for policy who supervised the VA data analyst who lost the data, said he would relinquish his high-level post on Friday.

The data analyst also will be dismissed while the acting head of the division in which he worked, Dennis Duffy, has been placed on administrative leave, VA Secretary Jim Nicholson said Tuesday.

McLendon is the first official to depart after Nicholson pledged to hold officials accountable following the May 3 "burglary", in which a laptop computer and disks were "stolen" from an agency analyst's home in Maryland

[igotthisguitar]

2.2 Million "Active-Duty" Personnel in VA Data "Theft"

Wednesday, June 7, 2006; Posted: 11:31 a.m. EDT (15:31 GMT)

This confirms the VFW's worst fear from day one -- that the loss of data encompasses every single person who did wear the uniform and does wear the uniform today. -- Joe Davis, VFW

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Nearly all active-duty military, Guard and Reserve members -- about 2.2 million total -- may be at risk for identity theft because their personal information was among the data "stolen" from a Veterans Affairs employee last month.

In a new disclosure Tuesday, VA Secretary Jim Nicholson said the agency was mistaken when it said over the weekend that up to 50,000 Navy and National Guard personnel were among the 26.5 million veterans whose names, birthdates and Social Security numbers were stolen on May 3.

The number is actually much higher.

The VA realized it had records on file for almost all active-duty personnel because they are eligible to receive VA benefits such as GI Bill educational assistance and the home loan guarantee program.

In a statement, Nicholson said the VA's latest review found the data included as many as 1.1 million active-duty personnel from all the armed forces, along with 430,000 members of the National Guard, and 645,000 members of the Reserves.

He noted that the agency has been notifying all affected veterans and that there have been no reports of identity theft in what has become one of the nation's largest security breaches.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/06/07/vets.data.ap/index.html?section=cnn_topstories

[igotthisguitar]

Stolen VA data "may have" been erased
By HOPE YEN, Associated Press Writer
Fri Jun 9, 9:24 AM ET

WASHINGTON - Stolen personal data for 26.5 million veterans and military personnel may have been erased by "teenagers" who sold the computer equipment, Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson said Thursday.



In testimony to Congress, Nicholson accepted responsibility for the May 3 burglary at a VA data analyst's home. He said the agency remains vulnerable to other security lapses and that changes won't happen overnight.

"This has been a painful lesson for us at VA, and I am committed to assuring that we have the people, adequately trained, policies and procedures in place to assure that this could not happen again," Nicholson told the House Government Reform Committee.