Va Announces Theft Of Data On 26 Million Veterans

[Guest DON20906]

VA Secretary Nicholson just concluded a conference call with major veterans' and military service organizations to tell them that a VA data analyst took home the names, social security numbers and dates of birth on over 26 million veterans and others to work from home. The data analyst's home was burglarized and the computer and/or storage media containing the data was stolen. Local police, the FBI and VA's Inspector General believe the burglars were after computer harddware and do not know what they have. VA is going public with this in a press release later today.

Edited May 22, 2006 by DON20906

[Hoppy]

Send me your money. It will be protected. I will store it on my boat. I have a silent alarm on my boat. My boat is on a Navy base. Navy ships of all sizes are all around me. Coast Guard ships from 20 feet to 100ft. Naval security patrols routinely. The Dept of Home security has little fast boats with four motors on them. The Navy Seals train all around me. Their is a submarine base here. I think one has been submerged right behind my boat and watching me for months now. They train real live seals, the kind that live in the oceans, to carry weapons of mass distruction within 30 yards of my boat. The border patrol even has boats here. Many of these vessels refuel less than three hundred yards from my boat. The biggest Naval Air base is less than two miles and has line of sight on my boat. Flocks of Navy and Marine helicoptors fly over every day. Most of these boats have big guns and the folks walking around here are ready to use them. On top of all that, I got central dispatch programmed on my auto dialer.

[tiso787]

Has anyone given it a thought that the va employee is the one behind this. Stop and think, we all know that the numbers range about 26.5 million, I heard on CNN that certain people would give 15 dollars a pop, add that up and it comes to 397.5 million, NICE little nestegg. It would also explain why no names have surfaced ie;indentity theft, credit card fraud. the feds are watching. as soon as he gets his punishment (which is probably a 5 year probation), he's scott clean. sure beats a VA paycheck every month.

Hoppy, GREAT security.......but tell me...do you still have to register your boat.

I've got my WIFE as my security.

Peter

[foreveryoung]

VA official quits in aftermath of data theft

A high-ranking official in the Veterans Affairs Department has submitted his resignation in the wake of the theft of personal data on millions of veterans from an employee's home.

According to an Associated Press report, Michael H. McLendon, VA's deputy assistant secretary for policy, said Tuesday he would leave his post on Friday.

"Words are inadequate to describe how I feel about these recent events and the impact on the band of brothers and sisters of service members and veterans that we are supposed to serve," McLendon wrote in a letter obtained by the AP.

"Given that this very serious and tragic event occurred on my watch and in my organization, I feel it necessary that I tender my resignation," stated the letter, which was submitted to the VA late Friday. "I would be modeling the wrong behavior to my staff and others in VA if I took no action to be responsible."

The theft of the data, which includes the names and birth dates of up to 26.5 million veterans, including about 100 spouses, occurred May 3 when the home of a VA data analyst was burglarized in what authorities believe was a routine break-in. Social Security numbers for some 19.6 million of those veterans were on the stolen property, as was information relating to employee disability compensation.

McLendon was appointed to his VA post in December 2003. According to a biography of him issued by the 2005 White House Conference on Aging (on whose advisory committee McLendon sat), he is the founder of McLendon & Associates, a management consulting and public policy firm with clients at all levels of government. Prior to joining VA, he worked on projects for the Defense Department, U.S. Agency for International Development, World Bank, Asian Development Bank, National Academy of Public Administration and other organizations.

Last week, VA Secretary James Nicholson accepted responsibility for the security breach and said the department is reviewing all positions requiring access to sensitive data. Once this is complete, employees granted access will undergo new security and background investigations.

[EODMOMMY]

When I heard about this I was really angry!!! B) They have not been real forth-coming all the info that was on those disks or the external hard drive.

I know when my husband first put in for his VA Benefits we had to supply information on our children and on my past marriage (to make sure I was divorced). Then when my husband received his Vocational Rehabilitation Benefits, we had to send in copies of our marriage license and our kid's birth certificates and SS cards. When I called the 1-800 number all they could tell me was to keep an eye on our credit reports. Well, if they have my children's info, they don't have credit reports! So I called every credit bureau and the only one I could get a living human being at told me what info I could send in and they would put a fraud alert on our children's SSN# till they turn 18. It is pretty bad that we all worried about our information stolen, but if my kid's info was, what a mess!!

My husband had a top-secret security clearence and if he had done something like that, he would have been on his way to Levenworth.

[mssoup1]

Don't remember if this has been posted yet, but I just heard this morning on NBC that there were also addresses and phone numbers that was contained in this stolen information. As I have said before, someone has something to hide somewhere. If not, why did they not come forth in the beginnning with all the information stolen since they had interviewed the employee and he should have known all of the individual information he had on each veteran. But, instead, we are being fed bits and pieces as the days drag on. They may have felt that if they released pieces of information at a time that there would not be quite as big of an uproar. Give the veterans time to settle down a little, then feed them somemore information.

Just my take on things.

mssoup1

[john999]

I think the nature of the VA is to try and CYA and hope everything will just go away. The worst thing they can do is let information drip out because this keeps the story alive. They are like cockroaches and hate to have the light shined on them. They head for the cracks and holes where they can hide. Of course, they try and pass the buck down the chain of command.