White House Withdraws Request to Monitor Vets’ Credit for a Year

The White House has withdrawn a budget request for $160 million to provide 26.5 million veterans with credit monitoring following the theft of a laptop containing highly sensitive information. "Given the FBI’s high degree of confidence that this information was not accessed or compromised, VA and the Administration believe that individual credit monitoring and the associated funding will no longer be necessary," said Matt Burns, a spokesman for the Department of Veterans Affairs. The White House made the request for funding after the laptop containing highly sensitive information on 26.5 million veterans was stolen from the home of a Veteran Affairs employee in early May. The laptop was recovered at the end of June. A recent report by the inspector general at the VA concluded that a lack of urgency and responsibility at "nearly every step" at the department transformed one employee’s oversight into the near national disaster.