Key Data on Millions of Veterans Stolen!

ABC News ^ | 5/22/06

[areafiftyone]

May 22, 2006 — Personal data on about 26.5 million U.S. military veterans was stolen from the residence of a Department of Veterans Affairs data analyst who improperly took the material home, Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson said Monday.

The data included names, Social Security numbers and dates of birth for the veterans, Nicholson said, but "there is no indication at this time" that the data had been used for identify theft.

Nicholson said the theft of the data took place this month, but declined to identify the employee or the location of the burglary.

[DBrow]

Thanks, that makes more sense.

[SE Mom]

Just reading this letter I start to laugh- it's SUCH a TYPICAL bureaucrat's letter.

Here's a question -how many would have clearance for this information- and moreover what earthly purpose would they have for bringing it HOME? I've not followed up today- but are we CERTAIN this was a (stupid beyond words) mistake..or is it possible there's something more ominous here? As has been pointed out- this information would be worth a lot to some very evil people.

Getting out my trusty tin foil cap..

[Army MP Retired]

Here's a question -how many would have clearance for this information- and moreover what earthly purpose would they have for bringing it HOME? I've not followed up today- but are we CERTAIN this was a (stupid beyond words) mistake..or is it possible there's something more ominous here?

Hi Mom! (grin) As far as who would have clearance for this information... as a data analyst I'm confident he had both the need to know and the necessary clearance for access to the data. Protection of this data would have come under the heading 'sensitive' or FOUO (for official use only) - but not under a national security classification per say.

Is there something more ominous here? Well, until we're made privy to the details - we can only hypothesize of course.... and that may not be in the best interest of the government, because our imaginations can surely come up with some creative scenarios!

Conclusions I draw, based solely upon my personal experience and knowledge of government rules, etc.

1) he at least misappropriated government property by taking home either the data or the computer or both.

2) he violated in house policy by taking the data home and placing it at risk.

3) he is guilty of suffering a loss of government property through neglect

I find it a little disturbing that we haven't been made aware of the details... thus my imagination conjures up the possibility that the VA employee's last name is hyphenated with an Al-somethingorother.... see what I mean about not being provided the details? My opinion - if you believe this was all just a horrible mistake, then you believe the two Saudis who got on the school bus the other day just made a horrible mistake too. Or, maybe my imagination is just taking over in that matter too :-)

[1066AD]

I'm guessing it was on a laptop/notebook PC that was stolen.

[combat_boots]

"was stolen from the residence of a Department of Veterans Affairs data analyst who improperly took the material home"

Sure it was.

[rottndog]

HEADS BETTER ROLL


Nope!!!--Government employees, so accountability doesn't apply.

[sarasmom]

More is obviously on this "disc(s) than Name, DOB, and SSAN.
Exactly how much more, is not knowable untill we determine which department within the VA initiated the compromise of this information.

Can whoever now has access to this information track DOD veterans to their current locations?
Obviously the answer is yes, to a certain degree.

I agreed to abide by certain permanent restrictions, but I never agreed to be a perpetual moving target!

[freema]

I wonder if he lived in Murtha's or Hillary's district.

[teeman8r]

loved the point tony snow made when asked why the wh was so closed mouth on the severity of the theft... paraphrasing:
"we didn't want to tell the burglars how valuable the information they had was"

teeman

[teeman8r]

it is no coincidence that the 26.5 million personal information stolen corresponds to the 26.5 million illegals looking for legitiacy...

hmmmmmm

teeman

[Gondring]

All specifics of this case aside, this is a great lesson for why we can't ever "trust" the government with privacy. Even if well meaning, the human-error factor will always be there.

[Gondring]

It was probably on a disk inside a stolen computer, or some such. I can't even imagine a burglar standing there, sorting through disks...

...until he reads this story!

[marmar]

This makes me angry......the person just took them home, and they just happen to get stolen, I hope my info is not in that mess.......I hope that all my fellow Vets are safe.

[tracer]

He lives in Oxon Hill, MD. I could "trace" his name as well in a few days, but why bother?

[ONEBYEONE]

I got an email from my TLC Brotherhood and they say that people like us that have disabilities have various account information. VA also states they don't have any specific info on anyone's medical condition.

[Freedom4US]

Was that arson?

[Snickersnee]

Was that arson?

Seems to have been spontaneous combustion, altho someone sneaking a cigarette shouldn't be ruled out.

[SE Mom]

Thanks for your insights! Coincidences do happen- yet this one truly stretches the mind. So many questions. IF this was just a "regular burglary"...does the thief listen to the news? If nota regular burglary..something is FUBAR. Whoever let this happen needs to be fired.

(Screaming Eagle) Mom:)
Thank you for serving.

[7thson]

The day I heard this story - driving home Monday afternoon - I called the number they gave out on the radio for information. Each time I asked a question, the girl would ask me to hold, and then come back with "we do not have that information at this time." Some of the questions I asked were the name of the VA individual who did this, is this person fired, was it a CD, removalbe HD, or a laptop. Found out the next day, the responsible VA person is placed on admin leave. So, this schmuck gets to go on paid leave for 30 days while possibly my id and millions of others - possibly including some on here - gets floated around. Also found out later on the news, the person lived in Aspen Hill, Maryland - noted for B&E's and the theft occurred sometime between 1030 and 1600 on May 3.

My advice - go to this website - http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft/ - and to this one - http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft/con_steps.htm#fraud - to get information to place a fraud alert on your credit report. We all know the government will do squat to help any of us.

[7thson]

I do not think it was stolen. I think the information was sold and the VA found out through an audit or security check.