A VA directive requires that personally identifiable information be kept confidential and properly controlled. Image: Jonathan Weiss/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffThree VA employees who disclosed that departmental officials “violated federal law and VA policies by improperly storing personally identifiable information” and leaving it unprotected in an internal electronic casework system have been chosen for the Office of Special Counsel’s 2024 Public Service award.
Former-senior program manager Peter Rizzo, program analyst Kristen Ruell, and another VA employee who chose to remain anonymous made those disclosures regarding a system the department uses to conduct administrative and correspondence work containing information on veterans, their dependents, and VA employees, including whistleblowers and contractors, the OSC said.
A VA directive requires that personally identifiable information be kept confidential and properly controlled, and that employees using information systems must comply with privacy protections, it said. However, an investigation following the disclosures confirmed that information such as dates of birth, Social Security numbers, addresses and phone numbers “was accessible to VA employees across the agency regardless of the employees’ need to know.”
“In response to these findings, the VA implemented several corrective actions to protect open and closed cases containing PII in the relevant systems, to ensure employees properly designate and protect cases in the future, and to provide appropriate tracking and user oversight,” the OSC said.
“These three whistleblowers achieved an outstanding result and brought needed change to VA operations,” Special Counsel Hampton Dellinger said.
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