News-Record.com

I posted recently about missing/stolen VA laptops containing records of thousands of veterans, most of them unencrypted.

At 6:45 p.m. Friday -- i.e., after most reporters on the East Coast, including yours truly, had gone home for the weekend, this story moved on the Associated Press wire:

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson has suspended activities at seven specialized research centers [none in N.C. -- Lex] across the country after an unprotected computer hard drive disappeared from one of the facilities in Alabama last month.

In an internal memo obtained by The Associated Press, Nicholson called the department's latest data breach ''tragic'' and ordered the VA's Research Enhancement Award Programs to shut down until they are certified as meeting security standards.

The research centers focus on studies involving large amounts of data. The center in Birmingham, called the Deep South Center on Effectiveness, collects data for improving quality of care.

Writing to VA's top management on Thursday, Nicholson also said the department would begin unannounced inspections at VA sites nationwide.

''It is now clear to me that there are still too many VA employees, both in senior positions and elsewhere, who either still do not comprehend the seriousness of this issue, or who consciously disregard its seriousness,'' he wrote.

Nicholson has come under sharp criticism on Capitol Hill in the past year over a series of computer security failures that put sensitive personal information for millions of veterans at risk.

In the latest incident, a backup hard drive containing data such as Social Security numbers for up to 1.8 million veterans and physicians was reported missing Jan. 22 from a research site in Birmingham, Ala.

I think this bit of news speaks for itself, both for what it tells about what the VA has done and for what it tells us about what the VA has not done.