Secret Service Joins Investigation
Calling the recent loss of employee personal data a breach of
the Privacy Act, the American Federation of Government Employees
(AFGE) -- which represents employees throughout the Department of
Homeland Security, including the Transportation Security
Administration -- filed a class action lawsuit against the TSA
Tuesday.
As ANN reported, the bank
records, payroll information, social security numbers and other
sensitive personal data of roughly 100,000 employees
-- including airport screeners and federal air marshals --
went missing last week, from an external hard drive or laptop
computer. The FBI is investigating, and the Secret Service has also
come onboard.
A TSA statement said officials became aware on May 3 the item
containing the data was missing, from a controlled security area at
the headquarters of its Office of Human Capital.
The suit claims that by "failing to establish safeguards to
ensure the security and confidentiality of personnel records, TSA
violated both the Aviation and Transportation Security Act (ATSA)
and the Privacy Act of 1974," according to the union. "The ATSA
explicitly mandates the TSA administrator to 'ensure the adequacy
of security measures at airports,' and the Privacy Act directs that
every federal agency have in place a security system to prevent
unauthorized release of personal records."
If the data "were to fall into the wrong hands, false identity
badges easily could be created in order to gain access to secure
areas," said John Gage, president of the American Federation of
Government Employees. "A Department of Homeland Security agency
that cannot even shield its own employee data is not
reassuring."
"TSA's reckless behavior is clearly
in violation of the law," Gage added. "TSA must be held liable for
this wanton disregard for employee privacy."
The lawsuit asks that TSA be ordered to create new security
procedures consistent with the ATSA and the Privacy Act, specific
to electronically monitoring any mobile equipment that stores
personnel data and encrypting personnel data, the union said.
AFGE also asks for TSA to grant "administrative leave" to
Transportation Security Officers (TSOs) who request it in order to
protect against or correct identity theft or financial disruption
caused by this incident, and that no resultant retaliation occurs.
AFGE also seeks a judgment for all actual damages incurred as a
result of the incident.
"The maintenance and safeguarding of personnel data is vital to
the protection of security at our nation's airports," Gage said.
"This is the Department of Homeland Security we are talking about.
The American people look to DHS for security and protection."