The latest report from the Veterans Affairs Inspector General is “highly critical” of the way the VA managed the May 3 theft of VA data, says Sen. Larry Craig, chairman of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee. He goes on to call it a “stinging indictment of a security system that was lax to nonexistent.” The 68-page report could serve as a capstone for the IG’s work over at least the past five years to highlight data security problems within the VA. According to the IG, the employee from whose home a laptop and computer hard drive containing personal data of more than 26 million veterans and military personnel was authorized access to the data, but his supervisors did not know he had taken the data home. The report cites the delay in notifying the VA Secretary, writing, “No one clearly identified [the data theft] as a high priority item.” It goes on to outline “indifference and little sense of urgency or responsibility” displayed by some VA officials. In all, we agree with Mr. Craig and then some.
The use of a military counter-drone laser on the southwest border this week—which prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to abruptly close the airspace over El Paso, Texas—will be a “case study” on the complex web of authorities needed to employ such weapons near civilian areas and the consequences of agencies…
