MARINE CORPS TIMES

June 29, 2006

Stolen VA laptop found

By Rick Maze
Times staff writer

The stolen laptop computer that may have held personal data on more than 26.5 million veterans and active-duty, National Guard and reserve members has been found, Department of Veterans Affairs R. James Nicholson said Thursday.

The computer, which was recovered Wednesday, is now undergoing three to five weeks of forensic tests by the FBI to determine whether information has been copied or compromised in any way. Nicholson, speaking at the opening of a House Veterans’ Affairs Committee hearing, confirmed that the hard drive “has been recovered.

Nicholson said law enforcement officials told him “there was reason to be optimistic” that the data had not been compromised

“This is a positive note in this very sad saga,” he said.

No further details were immediately available.

The laptop was stolen in early May in what appears to have been a routine burglary from a Department of Veterans Affairs employee who had taken the computer home to work on the databases it contained.

VA officials previously have said taking such data home was against department policy. But in this case, the employee had written permission to take the data home, the congressional sources said, which may be one reason why he has not been fired.