Stolen Va Data Goes Beyond Initial Reports

[Wings]

Stolen VA data goes beyond initial reports By HOPE YEN, Associated Press Writer

Wed May 31, 12:24 PM ET

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060531/ap_on_...HNlYwMlJVRPUCUl

-snip-

Personal information on 26.5 million veterans that was stolen from a Veterans Affairs employee this month not only included Social Security numbers and birthdates but in many cases phone numbers and addresses, internal documents show.

The three pages of memos by the VA, written by privacy officer Mark Whitney and distributed to high-level officials shortly after the May 3 burglary, offer new details on the scope of one of the nation's largest security breaches. The memos were obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press.

-snip-

Some lawmakers said Wednesday they were troubled by the new revelations, which go further than what the VA initially reported after publicizing the theft on May 22. At the time, VA Secretary Jim Nicholson said the data was limited to Social Security numbers and birthdates; he later indicated that diagnostic codes in some cases also may have been breached.

[Pete53]

Latest word is also shows disability rating.

[john999]

Believe it or not it also shows medical information of vets who were exposed to mustard gas and vets who were exposed to some chemicals. This is what VAwatchdog.org says. There is going to be a steady drip of information as the VA scrambles to deal with this. It is not part of the culture of the VA to come clean. They cannot help lying and trying to cover up since it is their genetic code.

[mslynnclark]

I believe that telling us slowly what is involved in this theft is wrong. We need to know exactly what they took so we can determine how much of an effect it will have on our lives. The Sentate (or whoever) should demand and release all information that was on this disk. And I dont want to hear any of that National Security nonsense. If they hadnt been doing one of their useless studies and working on real VA problems, this wouldnt be as bad. I do not believe the Social Security issue is over at all just shelved for the moment while they (VA) come up with something else.

To protect myself I have asked for additional ratings. It doesnt pay anymore but if an offset were to occur, I would have a little more fighting power. Does anyone know what the total rating over 100 you can get? Thanks for any information

[Berta]

Lynn -the highest VA comp rate I know of is- SMC R-2 for a vet-with wife, two dependent parents and one child- $7,296 per month. Add $68 p/m more for each additional child.

It is important to get every disability rated-

because 100%SC plus additional 60 % SC is the "S" award (SMC) and there are many other forms of Special Monthly Comp-to include Housebound and A & A.

A veteran with say DMII from AO at 40%SC today could , in time, incur heart disease, strokes, and even amputation of a limb (hope not) but these conditions, secondary to the DMII should be rated and at some point considered for SMC.