Posted on 06/06/2006 6:06:16 PM PDT by SandRat
| WASHINGTON, June 6, 2006 – Active-duty servicemembers and members of the National Guard and Reserves may be affected by the recent personal data loss by the Department of Veterans Affairs, the VA announced today. The VA announced over the weekend that the records stolen from the home of a VA representative in May might include personal information of people currently in the military, according to a VA news release. Initial findings from VA indicated the personal information on about 50,000 active duty, National Guard and Reserve personnel may have been involved. As the two agencies compared electronic files, VA and DoD learned that personal information on as many as 1.1 million active-duty servicemembers, 430,000 National Guardsmen, and 645,000 members of the Reserves may have been included in the data theft, according to today's release. In May, the VA learned that an employee took home electronic data without authorization, in violation of established VA policies. The employee's home was burglarized and the data were stolen. Included were names, Social Security numbers, and dates of birth for up to 26.5 million veterans. The VA receives records for every new accession and military enlistee because active-duty personnel and National Guardsmen and Reservists are eligible to receive certain VA benefits, according to the release. "VA remains committed to providing updates on this incident as new information is learned," said Secretary of Veterans Affairs R. James Nicholson. "The department will continue to make every effort to inform and help protect those potentially affected, and is working with the Department of Defense to notify all affected personnel." Nicholson said VA is currently in discussions with several entities regarding credit-monitoring services to determine how veterans and active-duty personnel potentially affected can best be served. The VA has received no reports that the stolen data has been used for fraudulent purposes. Several resources are available to servicemembers and veterans who may have been affected by this data loss:
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Related Site:
Latest Information on Veterans Affairs Data Security
VA Data Theft news update
Great. My best guess is that it is going to be harder for our troops in Europe to track this.
You mean undo the wrong that Pres Carter did.
Could you explain? I have only served under Clinton and Bush.
I never understood why anyone thought this was a bright idea- SS on your dog tags? WTH?
To: Eagle9My husband was treated at the VA from 2002 until his death last June, do I need to be concerned, and if so, what should I do?
My son is currently serving in Afghanistan, he has been in the Army or the reserve since 1988. Should he be concerned, should I be alerting him or his wife, or will they be doing that on base in Afg?
9 posted on 05/27/2006 2:45:11 AM CDT by gleeaikin
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I think this updated article will help answer your questions.
Me too. Before I joined up, I would never give my SSN to anyone except on tax forms and employer documents.
I was astounded to see my private and personal number was used for everything when entering the service.
It's bound to come back as a I.D. theft.
I hate it.
It's a real tight ship being run there in Washington, eh? This latest breach now means that millions of our veterans and most of our active military members have had their personal info released into the wrong hands.
My son was the same way- when I saw his dog tags I was really baffled at the logic.
Thank you for serving, JJ.
Nodding.
BTT. Looks like they got just about everybody.
When I came in pre-Carter we had Military Service unique service numbers and it was Jimmie that for accounting simplicity ordered us all switched over to using our SSANs.
Heard on the news that a vetern is suing for damages for all the vets and military affected. We'll see how far that gets.
Thanks for the note. I wondered about that.
I was in the Army 1971-72. We had our name and SSN stamped on every piece of clothing, boots, shoes and stencil spray painted in white on our big olive drab duffel bags that we carried through airports, bus terminals, etc. Also on our dog tags.
Got my first set of Dog Tags in 69 and we had real service #s.
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