Um yeah, I feel safer

From CNN I learned that 26.5 million US miltary veteran's data has been stolen after improperly being taken home by a Dept. of Veteran's Affairs data analyst. From the NYT:

Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson said there was no evidence so far that the burglars who struck the employee's home have used the personal data -- or even know they have it. The employee, a data analyst whom Nicholson would not identify, has been placed on leave pending a review.

Phew - that's a relief! The burglars don't know they possibly have my information. I will definitely sleep better tonight knowing that the government is doing such a fantastic job not only protecting my personal information, but also making sure that if it's stolen, the thieves don't know what it is.

But this sort of gets to me from the VA's own website:

This data contained identifying information including names, social security numbers, and dates of birth for up to 26.5 million veterans and some spouses, as well as some disability ratings.

They use the word "including" and they repeatedly stress that neither medical nor financial information were compromised. This sounds like typical corrupt Republican parsing, a la Bell South and Verizon recently over the NSA revelation in USA Today. Maybe King George made a signing statement requiring Nicholson to lie about this?

I wonder if the VA really even knows at all what was stolen. Seriously, was a laptop lifted or a thumb drive or CD stolen or what? If it was a laptop, other than maybe network or backup logs telling them what data was transferred, how would they really know what was stored on the machine? And if it was a laptop, why does the VA allow laptops to leave the office anyways, considering their "rules, regulations, and policies" that do not allow personnel to take data from the office.

If it was not a computing device, was it a thumb drive, an external hard drive, or a CD? And in that case, if the "rules, regulations, and policies" exist that the employees can't take this data from the office, why are these devices available? It's easy enough for a half-decent network administrator to secure these devices on your typical desktop to prevent unauthorized use.

At least it's only name, SSN, and date of birth. Had I ever been captured in combat I would have also had to give my rank. Hogan!!!

Update: according to this document on the VA's site, that 26.5 million represents ALL US military veterans. Damn!!!