Veteran Affairs Says 2.2 Million, Not 50,000 Active-Duty Troops’ Records Were Stolen
VA Secretary Jim Nicholson said the agency was mistaken when it said over the weekend that up to 50,000 Navy and National Guard personnel – and no other active-duty personnel – were affected by the May 3 burglary.
In fact, names, birth dates and Social Security numbers of as many as 1.1 million active-duty personnel from all the armed forces – or 80 percent of all active-duty members – are believed to have been included, along with 430,000 members of the National Guard, and 645,000 members of the Reserves.
Time to put the lock in place?
2.2m must be pretty close to the total number of active duty troops of all services. It sounds like everyone was compromised.
This is a problem not only for the obvious credit risks that too many people are exposed to everyday, but its a problem because enemies of the United States can profile troops, troop strength, troop movement, location, habits etc.
This is a serious breach of National Security. Something that credit monitoring and counseling just doesn’t address.
Forget about loose lips sinking ships, this could put information in the hands of other nations that could then learn where are troops are buying a cheeseburger or a beer or spending the night or which airport they are passing through or more.
Congress and the Executive Branch don’t seem to be publicly acknowledging the severity of this issue and that concerns me that they don’t understand just how big this Pandora’s box could be if the wrong hands purchase the information on the black market.