Bob Filner: “As Chairman Buyer stated, a near catastrophe occurred in early May of this year when a lap-top containing 26 million…”

“As Chairman Buyer stated, a near catastrophe occurred in early May of this year when a lap-top containing 26 million names and data, Social Security data and some medical data, was stolen from a VA employee's home. Now, this theft of data was not just human error, it was not just an accident, it was not just bad luck. As Mr. Buyer had been pointing out for many years, this was a systemic problem, a problem of incredibly bad management of cyberinformation at the VA, a lack of cybersecurity, a lack of centralization of responsibility for cybersecurity, and it could have resulted in identity theft for millions of our Nation's veterans. We were lucky. Apparently, the lap-top was recovered before the names were stolen. Although I don't have 100 percent confidence in that judgment, that is what we think right now. But the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, under the leadership of Chairman Buyer, saw this as a wake-up call, a time to change failed policies, a time to change directions.”