Last week, John Kerry introduced the Veterans Identity Protection (VIP) Act which would require the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide one year of free credit monitoring to affected veterans and an additional free credit report for the following two years. Kerry has asked President Bush to direct the VA Secretary to start negotiations with credit monitoring services to reach a fair price for this service for our veterans, which will be paid for by the government.

Below is a copy of the letter:

June 1, 2006

The Honorable George W. Bush

The President

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue

Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President:

I write today to ask you to come to the aid of America’s veterans. Last week we learned that the personal data—including names, dates of birth, and social security numbers—of more than 26 million veterans has been stolen.

As a result, these veterans are now at risk for identity theft and consumer fraud. The theft of these records may compromise their credit reports, and lead to debt, and legal issues for years.

In statements last week, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson urged America’s veterans to monitor their credit reports for unusual activity. Mr. President, the burden of vigilance should not rest with the American veteran or with his or her family. It rests with the entity that put the data at risk of theft and misuse: the government of the United States.

Last week I introduced S.2970, the Veterans Identity Protection (VIP) Act to ensure that the government takes responsibility for protecting the identities of those put at risk by the theft of veterans’ personal data. This legislation would require the VA to provide one year of free credit monitoring to those affected by the data loss. After the first year, affected individuals would also be eligible for one additional free credit report each year for two years in addition to that report provided under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

The cost of this legislation is not insignificant and would require an additional supplemental appropriation for the already strapped VA budget. But I believe that the cost of this service could be drastically reduced if the VA Secretary entered into negotiations with credit monitoring services to reduce their fees. Already we have seen major credit monitoring services offer reduced fees to veterans in response to this theft.

I invite you to take up this issue for America’s veterans. In the week that we mark Memorial Day and the countless acts of courage and sacrifice by veterans in our nation’s history, the very least we can do is come together as Americans to make sure we protect the identity security of those who have defended our national security. I urge you and your VA Secretary to initiate discussions with the credit monitoring services to achieve a fair fee for service in which the government assumes responsibility for this liability.

Mr. President, don’t make this a problem for America’s veterans to solve. From World War to Cold War and the War on Terror they have solved so many of America’s biggest problems. Let’s take action now to solve this one for them.

Sincerely,

John F. Kerry

CC: Richard F. Smith

Chairman and CEO

Equifax

Michael R. Stanfield

Chairman and CEO

Intersections, Inc.

Harry Gambill

President and CEO

TransUnion LLC

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