Veterans Identity And Credit Security Act Of 2006

VETERANS IDENTITY AND CREDIT SECURITY ACT OF 2006 -- (House of Representatives - September 26, 2006)

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Mr. SWEENEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the Managers Amendment to H.R. 5835, the Veterans Identity and Credit Security Act of 2006.

Over the past 5 months, data security incidents at the Department of Veterans Affairs, State Department and Census Bureau have raised concern over the use of secure data at these and other Federal agencies.

The VA learned that an employee took home electronic records of 26.5 million veterans and 2.2 active-duty soldiers from the VA, which he was not authorized to do.

A hacker at the State Department gave thieves access to a finite amount of information, access to data and passwords.

The census bureau lost track of over 1,000 laptops, some of which contained sensitive personal information.

Americans secure information was put at extreme risk and raised concerns about data security in the Federal Government to a whole new level.

GAO reports released in July 2005 and again in March of 2006, revealed despite progress in implementing Federal requirements to protect information and systems, the 24 major Federal agencies' experienced continued pervasive weaknesses in information security policies and practices. Their flaws put Federal operations, citizens personal financial data and assets at risk of fraud, misuse, disclosure and destruction.

That is why I introduced H.R. 5820, the Federal Agency Data Privacy Protection Act, legislation that adds security measures to all Federal agencies data usage and administration. This manager's amendment includes a number of provisions included in my legislation.

It is important that we protect the sensitive information Americans provide to us so that we can assist them and we must provide the best possible responses to personal information being placed at risk. It is critical that we provide proper protections to individuals who may be affected by these thefts.

This amendment also extends the definition of what constitutes secure data so that we can provide the best protection for all personal information used by Federal agencies.

Americans place their trust in the Federal Government to protect the information they provide. In this age of technology, we have an obligation to protect that information and serve the people of this Nation. I urge my colleagues support on this amendment.

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