Released: June 01, 2006

Addresses, phone numbers in stolen Vet data

Source: By Tom Vanden Brook, USA Today

The Veterans Affairs (VA) Department lost more personal data on 26.5 million veterans than it first acknowledged last week, according to a memo released Wednesday. In addition to Social Security numbers and birthdates, files stolen from a VA analyst’s home last month included addresses and phone numbers in many cases, the memo said.

One file containing more than 6,700 records pertaining to veterans exposed to mustard gas was lost, said the memo, which was written by a VA privacy officer. The VA gave the memo to the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee at the request of Rep. Bob Filner of California, the panel’s acting ranking Democrat. USA TODAY obtained the memo from the committee.

Privacy experts say the Social Security numbers could be used to open fraudulent credit cards or bank accounts.

“These types of data contain more than limited financial information. The codes contain information about veterans’ medical conditions,” Filner said in a statement.

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