Please let anyone you know in the military that the theft of the Veterans Administration data we reported on earlier is even worse than first reported. The data includes personnel data for active duty personnel, reservists and members of the National Guard.
Social Security numbers and other personal information for as many 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, federal officials said yesterday, raising concerns about national security as well as identity theft.
The department announced that 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 an electronic file stolen May 3 from a department employee's house in Aspen Hill. The data include names, birth dates and Social Security numbers, VA spokesman Matt Burns said.
Defense officials said the loss is unprecedented and raises concerns about the safety of U.S. military forces. But they cautioned that law enforcement agencies investigating the incident have not found evidence that the stolen information has been used to commit identity theft.
"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."
For example, security experts said, the information could be used to find out where military personnel live. "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).
Another worry is that the information could reach foreign governments and their intelligence services or other hostile forces, allowing them to target service members and their families, the experts said.
Something has got to be done about this at once. It's time for a national law making identity theft a very, very severe crime with very, very severe punishments for engaging in it. The head of the VA should resign as well. The White House needs to issue a policy right now clamping down on the handling of sensitive data within the government. There simply is no excuse for this.
UPDATE: Lawmakers are calling for more funds and the ouster of the head of the VA. You heard it here first.
