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."

FMI: www.dhs.gov, www.afge.org