Editorial: Ongoing security problems

Friday, Aug. 11, 2006 | 7:48 a.m.

Veterans Affairs officials have admitted that another computer containing the personal data of thousands of American veterans has been stolen, eliciting a call for the immediate resignation of Veterans Affairs Secretary James Nicholson.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada called for the resignation upon the news that a desktop computer containing data on 38,000 veterans had been stolen from Unysis Corp., a VA subcontractor.

Nicholson must "be replaced with some individual who will do more than just talk. This dangerous incompetence has become all too common in the Bush White House," Reid told Bloomberg News.

This is only the latest in a series of security missteps for the federal agency that handles benefits and other programs for the nation's former military personnel.

In May, VA officials disclosed that a laptop and an external hard drive containing personal data on 26.5 million veterans and active-duty personnel had been stolen from the home of an agency analyst. The equipment was recovered, and the FBI determined that no one had accessed the information.

But the theft remained a major cause for concern as the Government Accountability Office recently had admonished the VA - and Nicholson in particular - for repeatedly failing to enact adequate security measures at the department.

GAO investigators told Congress in June that the VA's ongoing problems included a lack of adequate security at its computer centers, a lack of control over who had access to sensitive information and a failure to remove the access of employees who had quit or had been fired.

The VA had been warned about such issues for five years but had not taken corrective action, the GAO reported.

Although Nicholson has said he is taking measures to improve his department's security, it is obvious that he is not up to the task.

As we said in June, President Bush should find a replacement for Nicholson. And, given this latest breach that places some 38,000 veterans at risk, Nicholson's removal should happen sooner rather than later.