The Army Times had a story a couple of weeks ago on the theft of personal data on 26.5 million veterans. Representative Steve Buyer had a pretty astounding quote with respect to dealing with the aftermath of the VA’s negligence which led to the theft of the data:
Buyer said there may be other costs if the VA has to take steps to help veterans, although with 26 million people potentially compromised, it will be difficult to determine if the loss of the VA data is the sole reason for identity theft.
“How many of them would have had their identities stolen anyway?†Buyer said.
Rep. Salazar wants to err on the side of helping veterans:
Rep. John Salazar, D-Colo., a member of Buyer’s committee, introduced a bill Tuesday that would require the VA to provide free credit monitoring and credit reporting for any veterans whose personal information was on the stolen computer. The bill, HR 5455, will be discussed at Thursday’s hearings.
“We cannot allow our veterans to suffer while the government sorts out its mistakes,†Salazar said, noting that the VA waited until several weeks after the theft to warn veterans.
“Veterans should not have to pay for identity theft,†he said. “The least the government can do is cover the cost for veterans to monitor their credit. Entire lifetimes of saving money and good work can now be devastated in an instant because of the VA’s careless handling of personal information.â€
David Sanders, Buyer’s challenger for the 4th District seat, supports the Salazar bill.
How about free credit monitoring being paid for by ANY company that loses this info?
Steve Buyer is simply amazing.