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VA official steps down over ID thefts

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published May 31, 2006

WASHINGTON - A Veterans Affairs deputy assistant secretary who didn't immediately notify top officials about a theft of 26.5-million veterans' personal information is stepping down, citing missteps that led to the security breach.

Michael H. McLendon, deputy assistant secretary for policy who supervised the VA data analyst who lost the data, said he would relinquish his high-level post on Friday.

The data analyst also will be dismissed while the acting head of the division in which he worked, Dennis Duffy, has been placed on administrative leave, VA Secretary Jim Nicholson said Tuesday.

McLendon is the first official to depart after Nicholson pledged to hold officials accountable following the May 3 burglary, in which a laptop computer and discs were stolen from an analyst's home in Maryland.

"Words are inadequate to describe how I feel about these recent events and the impact on the band of brothers and sisters of service members and veterans that we are supposed to serve," McLendon wrote in a letter obtained by the Associated Press.

"Given that this very serious and tragic event occurred on my watch and in my organization, I feel it necessary that I tender my resignation," stated the letter, which was submitted to the VA late Friday. "I would be modeling the wrong behavior to my staff and others in VA if I took no action to be responsible."

The resignation comes as the VA is under attack for a three-week delay in publicizing the burglary in what has become one of the nation's largest security breaches. Nicholson said he was angry that employees did not notify him of the May 3 burglary until May 16; the public was told on May 22.

According to congressional testimony, the VA data analyst immediately informed his supervisors - including McLendon - after the theft of a laptop and discs that contained veterans' birth dates, Social Security numbers and disability ratings.

McLendon informed other officials, who then told Deputy Secretary Gordon Mansfield, the agency's No. 2 official, on May 10. But no formal action was taken until the VA inspector general's office heard about the theft through office gossip on May 10.

[Last modified May 31, 2006, 05:34:20]