The New York Times reported on Wednesday that an official working in the Department of Veterans Affairs will resign at the end of the week over the theft of computer data that contained personal information on 26.5 million veterans.

Michael H. McLendon serves as the deputy secretary for policy and was the supervisor of the data analyst who brought the computer data home to work on a department project without authorization, according to the New York Times.

Even more amazing is, according to one official at the Veterans Affairs Department, is that sensitive computer data has been brought home by the data analyst before (via NY Times):

“‘He said that he routinely took such data home to work on it, and had been doing so since 2003,’ George J. Opfer, the department’s inspector general, told senators, some of whom expressed amazement at how the department has handled the theft.”

Loose regulations regarding data security are a problem that is not just confined to the Veterans Affairs Department:

“Christopher Wolf, a Washington lawyer with the firm Proskauer Rose who specializes in security issues, said that the veterans department was just one of many federal agencies with lax computer security, and that sabotage might not be the biggest danger. ‘These things happen because of accidents,’ he said.”

Not having rigorous procedures for protecting personal data is one of the best arguments for not allowing the federal government the ability to collect large amounts of personal information in the first place.

From US Libertarian Party

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom