Capito Introduces Legislation to Protect Veterans' Personal Identity

Capito Introduces Legislation to Protect Veterans' Personal Identity

Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) on Friday introduced the "Veterans Identity Protection Act of 2006" (H.R. 5577) in response to the recent acknowledgement of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) that thieves had made off with a laptop containing Social Security numbers and other confidential information for as many as 27 million veterans and active duty service members.

Capito introduced the legislation after it was revealed last week that the personal information that had been stolen from the VA affected not only veterans as originally reported, but also active duty troops currently serving overseas.

"Our bravest Americans have served and continue to serve this country," Capito said, "I will not allow our veterans or those who fight on the front lines of the War on Terror to be affected by the negligence of one VA employee. I believe this legislation will help those involved to have a more confident vision of what the VA is doing on their behalf."

Specifically, Capito's legislation would include a sense of Congress that the Department of Veterans Affairs is responsible for protecting sensitive veterans' information and must act to rectify this unfortunate situation.

Furthermore, the Department of Veterans Affairs would be required to establish an Office of Identity Protection to provide outreach to all veterans and active duty military (including those in combat zones) to provide them the counsel in monitoring their private information to ensure no illicit activity has taken place. This would include the access to free credit reports every six months and a 24 hour toll free phone line to assist those veterans.

Capito added, "The loss of this information has caused many unscrupulous identity protection firms to contact our veterans and try to scare them into using their services. We shouldn't allow these brave Americans to be forced to make these kinds of decisions on their own and at their own expense. It should be up to the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide trusted advice and counsel to our veterans for the mistake they made."

The Veterans Identity Protection Act of 2006 would also make it a felony offense punishable by up to two years in prison for any VA employee to take sensitive documents or information outside its confines without express consent of the VA Secretary.

http://capito.house.gov/press_office/detail-page.aspx?id=178&whichone=pr