VA Database Theft Becomes Debacle

After announcing on June 3 that last month’s theft of personal data for 26.5 million veterans included names, Social Security numbers and dates of birth of 10,000 to 30,000 National Guard, Reserve and active-duty Navy service members, the Department of Veterans Affairs released a bigger bombshell on June 6. The VA now says that personal information concerning as many as 2.2 million service members, including nearly 80 percent of the active-duty force, were in the database. The active duty records may have included 1.1 million active-duty service members, 430,000 National Guard members and 645,000 reserve members, according to VA spokesman Matt Burns. Defense Department officials said the unprecedented loss of this information raises “monumental” national security issues, including concerns about the safety of U.S. service members and their families. (See next item.)