I am posting this for John Courage.  He is running for Congress in Texas.

Last week, Veteran’s Affairs Secretary James Nicholson announced that sensitive data collected by the government for approximately 26.5 million veterans — names, Social Security numbers and dates of birth as well as disability ratings — was stolen from the home of a VA official who had unlawfully removed this data from the VA and taken it home.
This was an outrageous, unacceptable violation of the over 100,000 brave men and women here in Congressional District 21 who have served our country.  

The revelation that the private and personal records of all of these veterans had been taken home by a VA employee and then stolen is appalling.  It is not only wrong, it is a cover up.  It was two weeks before the Administration informed the FBI and 19 days before the Administration informed the veterans whose personal information was stolen.  Much damage to veterans may have been wreaked in that period of time.  Our veterans and their families deserve better.
Democrats are offering a bill to address this egregious breach of privacy, along with calling for a full investigation so that the people in charge are held accountable.

This legislation, called the “Veterans Identity Protection Act of 2006,” will protect veterans from identity theft by calling on the VA to:

This legislation provides veterans with one year of free credit monitoring — to alert them of changes in their credit in order to stop the theft before it gets out of control.

It would allow veterans with one free credit report each year for two years after the end of credit monitoring, in addition to the free credit report available under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, and it authorizes $1.25 billion in emergency funds for the first year of implementation.

I stand with the Democrats in Congress who are sponsoring this bill and will vote for better privacy and security for our veterans when elected to Congress. This is yet another step in fulfilling our pledge to leave no veteran behind.  Democrats have introduced the New GI Bill of Rights to make sure that veterans and military retirees get the benefits they have earned and deserve.

While the FBI and the VA Inspector General’s office are looking into the matter, I am informing veterans and their families across to take proactive steps to protect themselves from misuse of their personal information.  

Veterans can visit www.firstgov.gov as well as www.va.gov/opa to get more information on this matter. The VA has set up a manned call center that veterans may call to get information about this situation and learn more about consumer identity protections: 1-800-FED INFO (333-4636), from 8 am to 9 pm (EDT), Monday-Saturday.


John Courage for U.S. Congress

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