After much hand and flag-wringing, a laptop containing millions of veteran’s personal data has been recovered. A preliminary analysis by police reveals that the sensitive information was not accessed during the theft.

An unidentified individual turned in the laptop to FBI investigators.

Rep. Steve Buyer, an Indiana Republican who chairs the House of Representatives Veterans Committee, said the laptop’s recovery “provides reason to be optimistic.” But he said the “history of lenient policies and lack of accountability within VA management must be rectified.”

In a further wrinkle, the AP reports that the employee who brought the laptop home actually had documented permission to do so.

Pictured above are Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, Undersecretary for Veteran’s Health Administration and Deputy Secretary of the Department of Veterans, departing at the conclusion of a House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs hearing on the update—all thinking about how they’re going to explain this to their wives.

The news comes as a setback for them and thousands of other gramps, who had hoped to blame suspicious charges on their credit cards for weekend extravaganzas in Atlantic City and subscriptions to “Red, White and Bootyful” on “knaves and scallywags.”

“Stolen Laptop with Veterans’ Data Recovered” [Reuters]

Previously:
• Data on Millions of Veterans Stolen
• How Many Weeks Does It Take To Tell A Veteran His Identity Has Been Stolen?
• Lawsuit Filed for 26.5 Mil Vets in Data Privacy Snafu
• Veterans Affairs Sends Mass Apology

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