California National Guard Screws Border Soldiers

Some 2000 soldiers who were serving on the border with Mexico in Operation Vista may have had their personal identitifying information stolen.  A hard drive containing the names, socials and DoB’s of soldiers on temporary duty on the border since last year went missing from a secure facility. 

From SignonSanDiego here:

Military investigators are searching for a computer hard drive containing personal information for about 2,000 California National Guardsmen, a Guard spokesman confirmed yesterday.

On Feb. 23, a soldier noticed the hard drive was missing from task force headquarters at San Diego Naval Base at 32nd Street. Because the drive disappeared from a locked closet inaccessible to civilians, agents from the Guard’s Criminal Investigative Division think a soldier took it, said Lt. Col. Jon Siepmann.

The drive was used to back up data for troops who have served in the Guard’s U.S.-Mexico border patrol task force since last summer, he added.

All affected Guard members have been advised on I.D. theft protection, Siepmann said, and so far there is no sign that someone has tried to use the personal data.

Guardsmen have been advised to be on the lookout of identity theives, but as yet, the Guard is not paying for credit monitoring.