Cliff Stearns: “I am deeply concerned that nearly 27 million veterans could be affected by a data security breach of record proportions…”

“I am deeply concerned that nearly 27 million veterans could be affected by a data security breach of record proportions that could compromise sensitive personal information, and every day we learn more. Tuesday we learned that names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers for as many as 1.1 million active duty U.S. military personnel, 430,000 National Guard members, 645,000 Reserve members, may also have been included. This elevates the concern for personal financial security of some veterans to national security for all. This data could be used to identify where servicemembers live, demographics that a lot of our enemies would like to know. Unfortunately, data breaches like this highlight the need for legislation I have authored, H.R. 4127, the Data Accountability and Trust Act. This bill, which the Energy and Commerce Committee has passed by a huge bipartisan vote, goes to the heart of this problem of the critical need to protect consumers' personal information. Mr. Speaker, let's pass H.R. 4127 as soon as possible. ____________________”