Charge Card Issue Reverberates

The recent loss of computer tapes containing account information on federal employees who hold government-issued charge cards has led the head of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee to ask the General Services Administration and the bank involved, the Bank of America, what they are doing to protect the privacy and identities of federal employees. The data involves some 1.6 million employees with GSA SmartPay cards, which allow employees to use the cards for commercial goods and services for official business. Collins said that employees should have been notified sooner that the tapes had gone missing—the announcement was made some two months after the loss—and said she is disturbed that it is still unknown whether the tapes were stolen or merely lost. Officials have said the loss was not disclosed earlier so as not to compromise the Secret Service’s investigation.