[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 72 (Thursday, June 8, 2006)]
[House]
[Page H3502]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        VA DATA SECURITY BREACH

  (Mr. STEARNS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Speaker, I am deeply concerned that nearly 27 
million veterans could be affected by a data security breach of record 
proportions that could compromise sensitive personal information, and 
every day we learn more.
  Tuesday we learned that names, dates of birth and Social Security 
numbers for as many as 1.1 million active duty U.S. military personnel, 
430,000 National Guard members, 645,000 Reserve members, may also have 
been included.
  This elevates the concern for personal financial security of some 
veterans to national security for all. This data could be used to 
identify where servicemembers live, demographics that a lot of our 
enemies would like to know.
  Unfortunately, data breaches like this highlight the need for 
legislation I have authored, H.R. 4127, the Data Accountability and 
Trust Act. This bill, which the Energy and Commerce Committee has 
passed by a huge bipartisan vote, goes to the heart of this problem of 
the critical need to protect consumers' personal information.
  Mr. Speaker, let's pass H.R. 4127 as soon as possible.

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