Adam Schrager has more on how News 3’s investigative reporting has resulted in a response from U.S. Senators:
Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) is calling for a federal investigation into how the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs handles the personally identifiable information of America’s veterans.
This comes after a News 3 investigation into an instance in April when hundreds of Social Security numbers belonging to Wisconsin veterans were emailed to a random citizen from a federal VA.gov email address.
Sen. Baldwin’s letter was co-signed by Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut), who is the ranking Democratic member on the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) has also sent an inquiry and is giving the VA until Nov. 11 to respond to numerous questions. Johnson told News 3 that the issue fell under the purview of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs that he heads.
Yes, there are a number of Congressional committees that have oversight functions, but will anyone in Congress actually do anything other than hold hearings and engage in public shaming?
In March and November, 2014, I posted a number of GAO audits of VA infosecurity. Where’s the follow-up to assess if they’ve made any progress?
Read more on News 3.