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lack of transparency and accountability,” House Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chair Rep. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) told Gibson he was frustrated with cost overruns and delays with other VA projects, notably construction projects at medical facilities in Colorado. VA officials also discussed their efforts

to improve Community Care Programs. Including the Veterans Choice Program, seven different programs provide non-VA care. Each program comes with a differ- ent authorization process and a different set of authorities. Gibson stressed the outside care

programs need to be reconciled and streamlined. He also asked the commit- tee to remove some of the congressionally placed restrictions on how the VA can

Protecting Yourself Aſter the Data Breach

 Carefully read your monthly credit card, bank, and any other financial statements. Crooks often start with a small theft. Sometimes they continue the same small theft month after month, hoping to fly under the radar. Other times, after the small theft, they go for the big money.

 Regularly check your credit report to make sure no one else has defaulted on a new credit card obtained in your name. The law per- mits you to obtain for free a report once every 12 months from each of the three major credit reporting agencies — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. Go to the central site set up by these agencies for this purpose, www.annualcreditreport.com, or call (877) 322-8228.

 Stay up-to-date on the latest information about the data breach. Visit www.opm.gov/cybersecurity.

For more information and advice about identity theft, visit www.identitytheft.gov and www.consumer.ftc.gov.

— Reid Goldsborough

spend money on Community Care Pro- grams. Without budget flexibility, Gibson said the VA “will have to deny care to vet- erans, a position we don’t want to be in.” MOAA thinks Congress must work with the VA to ensure the department has the necessary resources to meet vet- erans’ health care needs.

Military Affected

by Data Breach Close to 21.5 million OPM records are affected.

T

he scope of the data breach at the Office of Personnel Man- agement (OPM) went well be-

yond numbers initially reported. OPM originally thought the cyberattack was limited to 4.2 million records. Upon fur- ther scrutiny, investigators concluded the number of records compromised is closer to 21.5 million. Individuals affected include past and present federal and mili- tary employees, as well as any applicants that applied for a clearance since 2000. Information compromised in the

breach includes Social Security numbers and fingerprints and residency, educa- tional, family, financial, health, and em- ployment history. OPM’s website details the next steps it will take in notifying those affected by the data breach. OPM sent notifications by mail informing people of the services available. These services will be available for at least three years:  full-service identity restoration sup- port and victim recovery assistance;  identity-theft insurance;  identity monitoring for minor children;  continuous credit monitoring; and  fraud-monitoring services beyond credit files.

30 MILITARY OFFICER SEPTEMBER 2015