June 7th, 2006
Active duty data included in stolen VA file
Things just keep getting worse for the VA. It now appears that personal information for as 2.2 million U.S. military personnel — including nearly 80 percent of the active-duty force — were among the data stolen from the home of a Department of Veterans Affairs analyst last month, according to the Washington Post. Personal data for as many as 1.1 million active-duty military personnel, 430,000 National Guard members and 645,000 reserve members may have been included on the file stolen from a former VA employee’s home, VA spokesman Matt Burns said. The loss is "monumental," said one military expert.
"Anytime there is a theft of personal information, it is concerning and requires us and our members to be vigilant," Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said. He said the loss is "the largest that I am aware of."Army spokesman Paul Boyce said: "Obviously there are issues associated with identity theft and force protection."
The loss is potentially a major security breach.
"This essentially can create a Zip code for where each of the service members and [their] families live, and if it fell into the wrong hands could potentially put them at jeopardy of being targeted," said David Heyman, director of the homeland security program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
"There is a global black market in this sort of information . . . and you suddenly have a treasure trove of information on the U.S. military that is available," said James Lewis, director of technology and public policy at CSIS.
