National Union (American Federation of Government Employees) Sues TSA Over Security Breach

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Informationweek.com

National Union Sues TSA Over Security Breach

With a class action lawsuit looming, three politicians question the head of the Department of Homeland Security about the lost hard drive.

By Sharon Gaudin
InformationWeek
May 11, 2007 01:23 PM

Just as a federal workers union filed suit against the Transportation Security Administration for putting 100,000 employees at risk for identity theft, three politicians leveled questions at the Secretary of Homeland Security about the TSA's data breach.

The TSA, which is the federal agency charged with safeguarding the nation's airports, announced last week that it has lost an external hard drive containing the personal and financial information of 100,000 current and former employees. The hard drive was found missing from a controlled area at the TSA Headquarters Office of Human Capital on May 3. U.S. Secret Service agents have been investigating.

This week, the American Federation of Government Employees filed a class action lawsuit against the TSA over the incident. The union contends the data loss is a breach of the Privacy Act of 1974 and the Aviation and Transportation Security Act, according to an advisory on the union's Web site.

"TSA's reckless behavior is clearly in violation of the law," said union president John Gage, in a written statement. "TSA must be held liable for this wanton disregard for employee privacy."

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