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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Personal information on 26.5 million U.S. veterans was stolen from an employee of the Department of Veterans Affairs who took the data home without authorization, exposing them to possible identity theft, the department said on Monday.
The computer records included names, Social Security numbers and dates of birth for the military veterans and some spouses, the department said. The electronic data related to everyone discharged from the military since 1975, Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson said.
Lawmakers and veterans' advocates expressed alarm that the government failed to safeguard the data, which could be used in credit card fraud and other crimes.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said that "we have no reason to believe at this time" that the data has been exploited for identity theft.
"We are going to send out an individual notification letter to every veteran to the extent possible," warning them of the risk of identity theft, Nicholson told reporters by telephone.
Nicholson said the employee, a career data analyst and not a political appointee or senior official, has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.
The department said the theft of equipment containing the records from the employee's home took place this month. Nicholson declined to identify the employee, the location of the burglary or how long the person had the data at his home.
The FBI said the theft occurred in the Maryland area and its Baltimore field office has been looking into the matter since it was referred to the agency last week.
The computer records included names, Social Security numbers and dates of birth for the military veterans and some spouses, the department said. The electronic data related to everyone discharged from the military since 1975, Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson said.
Lawmakers and veterans' advocates expressed alarm that the government failed to safeguard the data, which could be used in credit card fraud and other crimes.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said that "we have no reason to believe at this time" that the data has been exploited for identity theft.
"We are going to send out an individual notification letter to every veteran to the extent possible," warning them of the risk of identity theft, Nicholson told reporters by telephone.
Nicholson said the employee, a career data analyst and not a political appointee or senior official, has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.
The department said the theft of equipment containing the records from the employee's home took place this month. Nicholson declined to identify the employee, the location of the burglary or how long the person had the data at his home.
The FBI said the theft occurred in the Maryland area and its Baltimore field office has been looking into the matter since it was referred to the agency last week.
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*Editing to to add: Thank you Pamela for asking if you could edit out the word I had chosen, and replacing it with "mad". I appreciate the respect.
