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June 20, 2006 (Washington, DC) U.S. Senators George Allen (R-Virginia), Larry Craig (R-Idaho) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) have offered an amendment to S. 2766, the Defense Authorization Bill, which will help provide financial protection to the 26.5 million veterans and active duty military personnel whose personal data and Social Security information were stolen from the home of a VA employee. "I told Secretary Nicholson we need three things: protection, accountability and security. This legislation is about protection. Those who put the data at risk are being held accountable, and VA and other federal agencies are working with Congress on long-term security," said Sen. Craig, Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs. The theft occurred on May 3 and a $50,000 reward is being offered for the recovery of the computer and an external hard drive. "Over the last several weeks my colleagues and I have heard from hundreds of veterans who are buying cars and homes or in some cases even retiring and we owe it to them to make sure that their good credit is protected. Our goal now is to protect veterans as quickly as possible and the Defense Authorization bill is currently moving on the floor of the Senate. By attaching our amendment there, we stand a better chance of protecting veterans faster than we would with a stand-alone bill," Sen. Allen said. "Our veterans and servicemembers trust the federal government with their personal information - and we should honor their trust by passing this fair, just and common sense piece of legislation immediately." Under terms of the amendment (S.Amdt.4314), the VA will be required to contract with a private sector firm which will provide credit monitoring and data theft protection services to veterans and members of the armed forces, including members of the National Guard. "We must act quickly to provide financial protection to those who may be victimized by identity theft before it is too late. Our veterans and servicemembers trusted that this very personal information would be protected as they plan for their future, and many for retirement," said Sen. Hutchison, Chairman of the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Subcommittee. "An amendment to the Defense Authorization Bill is the swiftest vehicle to get this important and timely legislation passed." In order to ensure that the government only provides coverage to those who are impacted by the loss of the VA data, veterans and military personnel will have to opt in to the service. "Experts say that an average of three percent of all Americans are victims of identity fraud each year, so even if no data is used from the stolen laptop and external drive, we know that an average of 795,000 veterans will become victims of identity fraud this year. And that's before the computer in question was stolen," Sen. Craig "If the data stolen along with the laptop is used by crooks, the number of veterans and active duty personnel hurt by such a loss could be much higher." The amendment gives the Secretary of Veterans Affairs the option to provide the credit services at a discounted low fixed price for veterans or the Secretary can choose to have the federal government pay for the service in total. "We want to provide the Secretary with wide latitude so that he has more negotiating power with those who will want to bid on providing this service," Craig said The federal government is part of growing number of public entities which have recently lost personal information. According to the Privacy Rights Clearing House, a San Diego non-profit that tracks data thefts, since 2005 there have been nearly 50 cases of misplaced or stolen laptops containing Social Security numbers and other personal information. The most recent case involves the city of Washington, DC. A laptop containing the Social Security numbers and other personal data of 13,000 District of Columbia employees and retirees has been stolen from the home a private contractor. #####
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