US VA Now Says Data Theft Goes Deeper

In a follow-up to the events described in DID’s May 25, 2006 article, the US government has disclosed that personal data on up to 50,000 active Navy and National Guard personnel were among those stolen from a Veterans Affairs employee’s home last month. An Associated Press article says that information including names, Social Security numbers and dates of birth of up to 20,000 National Guard and Reserve personnel who were on at least their second active-duty call-up were “potentially included”; the same status applies for up to 30,000 active-duty Navy personnel who completed their first enlistment term prior to 1991. While there have been no reports that the stolen data have been used for identity theft yet, caution and vigilance by potential victims is definitely warranted.

Meanwhile, consequences are beginning to fall. A recent AP report notes that The VA has fired the data analyst who lost the data, VA deputy assistant secretary Michael McLendon has stepped down, and Dennis Duffy (the acting head of the division in which the data analyst worked) has been placed on administrative leave. Meanwhile, VA Secretary Jim Nicholson said Wednesday that he had named Attorney and Vietnam War veteran Rick Romley as his new adviser for information security. Romley prosecuted one of the largest public corruption cases in Arizona in the early 1990s.

Yet Military.com reminds us that the VA theft is only the latest in a string of incidents:

India Puts Agni 3 “ICBM” Tests on Ice

Agni II, rail-mounted

India relies on a number of delivery platforms for its nuclear deterrent, from combat aircraft to its Prithvi (150-300 km/ up to 180 miles) Agni I (700-800 km/ up to 500 miles) and rail-mountable Agni II (2,000+ km/ 1,200+ miles) ballistic missiles. Their location and range ensure that their coverage is largely restricted to Pakistan, but the two-stage Agni III missile was expected to change that with a range of over 3,000 miles. While this is not the ICBM it is sometimes made out to be unless its range is very substantially beyond that 3,000 mile figure, The Agni III would certainly be a capable MRBM(medium range ballistic missile)/ IRBM(intermediate range ballistic missile) capable of reaching many parts of China.

Yet India has put an indefinite hold on the maiden flight-test of the Agni III, despite assurances from Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) scientists that the missile is ready. Our fast round-up of background information and perspectives includes:

Diego Garcia Contract Rises to $310.6M as US Exercises 8th Option Period

DG21 in Dallas, TX received $9.3M for Modification A00420 under previously awarded firm-fixed-price, indefinite-quantity award fee provisions contract N62742-98-D-4500. It exercises the eighth option period for base operating support services. Work to be performed provides for all management, labor, administration, supervision, materials, supplies, and equipment to provide integrated base operating services at the U.S. Navy Support Facility, Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. After exercise of this modification, the total cumulative contract amount will be $310.6 million.

Work will be performed in Diego Garcia, British Indian Ocean Territory, and is expected to be complete by September 2006. The basic contract was competitively procured with 28 proposals solicited, 2 offers received, and award made to DG21 on March 8, 1999. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Pacific in Pearl Harbor, HI issued the contract.