TSA Looses Employee Data Hard Drive

The Transportation Security Agency has misplaced a hard drive that contains the data for approximately 100,000 employees. Included in this data was the employees Social Security Numbers, payroll information, and banking data.

TSA authorities discovered on Thursday that a portable hard drive containing employee information was missing from a controlled area at TSA headquarters. TSA chief, Kip Hawley, sent a letter to employees on Friday apologizing for losing their information, and he promised to give employees a year of free credit monitoring services.

The AP was able to obtain a copy of the letter Kip sent to employees where Mr.Hawley apologized for any inconvenience or concern employees had when hearing their personal data may have been compromised. This letter went on to say TSA does not believe any unauthorized person is using this information, but TSA wanted to bring this issue to the employees attention so the employees would be alert to any breaches in their personal security.

As of this writing, TSA officials still do not know if this data was stolen or simply misplaced, but the TSA has asked the FBI and the Secret Service to investigate this matter. TSA officials also said that any person who was found to be in violation of the agency's data-protection policies would be fired.

The portable hard drive that was lost contained the information of employees who worked for the Department of Homeland Security from January 2002 until August 2005. The TSA is a division within the department of Homeland Security that employs about 50,000 people. The TSA is also the agency that is responsible for the security of the U.S. transportation systems that include railroad stations and airports.

"It's seems like there's a problem with security inside Homeland Security and that makes no sense," said James Slade, a TSA screener and the executive vice president of the National Treasury Employees Union chapter at John F. Kennedy International Airport. "That's scary. That's my identity. And now who has a hold of it? So many things go on in your mind."

The TSA also posted a bulletin on their website informing people of this security breach, and directing people to contact them with any information they may have on this theft.

It is also worth noting that Democrats wasted no time in making this security breach at a Homeland Security division into a political issue.

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee,D-Texas, is a member of the House Homeland Security subcommittee whose task it is to oversea the TSA. Ms. Jackson has promised to hold hearings on this breach of confidential employee information because the TSA is charged with controlling security for buildings associated with the Homeland Security Department.

House Homeland Security Chairman Bennie G. Thompson, D-Miss, called this loss of information a terrible and unfortunate blow to an agency that all ready suffers from 'low' morale.

This is not the first time a government agency has lost critical data. Last year, a laptop that held data on roughly 26.5 million military personnel was stolen from the home of an employee working in the Veterans Administration Department. Law enforcement officials were able to recover this laptop, and the FBI said the information contained in this laptop was not compromised.

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