I should be protected, but it’s one more worry because they didn’t institute basic protections. All this ranting about national security and they don’t actually do anything practical. There should have been security audits and procedures in place years ago in all government offices.

For what it’s worth, employees of the local VA… I happen to know a few… are horrified at the irresponsibility of the employee who put this data at risk. In fact, I was treated to a rant from one of them about all the precautions they personally take to protect veterans’ data: it involves both encryption and plain old physical locks and keys.

I understand that’s no comfort to you right now; one person’s irresponsibility has left you vulnerable. I’ve been nailed once, not by full-blown identity theft, but by someone who succeeded in using a bank card number (and apparently not much else) to steal a sizable amount from me and get away with it. (That was my fault; I didn’t follow up quickly enough.) Now that so many credit check services require a SSN, I’m afraid all of us, veterans and nonveterans alike, are going to see a lot more of this.