FederalDaily.com > Man Threatens to Blow Up VA Office

FederalDaily - August 24, 2005

Man Threatens to Blow Up VA Office

A man claiming to be a former member of the military Special Forces is in custody and is suspected of threatening to blow up the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) office in the Seattle, Wash., federal building, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Charles M. Whitaker, 53, was arrested on Aug. 22. ICE said an investigation began when Federal Protective Service (FPS) officers received information from a former roommate of Whitaker’s alleging he had made repeated threats to blow up the VA office in retaliation for being denied benefits. “We believe this man was potentially planning to take violent action against the local VA office,” said Ian Canaan, FPS commander for Western Washington. After executing a search warrant at the residence where Whitaker most recently rented a room, FPS officers found military field manuals on explosives, bomb making and booby traps.

AF Personnel Records Accessed

An unauthorized user accessed approximately 33,300 records, which contained personnel information on Air Force (AF) members, in May and June. According to the AF, no incidents of identity theft have been linked to the unauthorized access thus far. The AF said immediately after learning of the unauthorized access, the Assignment Management System (AMS), which contained the records, was removed from service. The AMS has now been returned to service with increased security measures. Also, a criminal investigation began immediately. AMS records contain Social Security numbers as well as other information that could potentially be used to gain access to other systems controlling military pay direct deposits and allotments. Other information (which is not subject to release without the record holder’s consent) includes marital status, number of dependents, birthday, race/ethnic origin, educational degrees, school and year of graduation, and duty information for overseas assignments. To read more, go to: www.afpc.randolph.af.mil/pubaffairs/release/2005/08/AMS%20Letter.pdf.

Federal E-Training Gets a Boost

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) recently announced several advancements to the e-Training Initiative. USALearning.gov, formerly known as GoLearn.gov, now reflects the offerings and services of all three e-Training Initiative service providers: FasTrac, NTIS and GoLearn. According to OPM, as of the third quarter of fiscal year 2005, the e-Training Initiative, through the USALearning site and all e-Training service provider-implemented systems, has registered more than 1.3 million users and more than 900,000 course completions across 123 government entities. OPM also said the e-Training Advisory Council (ETAC) recently held its first meeting. ETAC is made up of 24 representatives from major cabinet agencies and several small agencies.

SSA Employee Illegally Accesses Personal Information

Nilda Ortiz, 48, of Meriden, Conn., was sentenced last week to a term of probation of two years and a fine of $1,000 for unlawfully accessing information from a government computer. She pleaded guilty to the offense in May, the Department of Justice (DOJ) stated. According to documents filed with the court, Ortiz is a claims representative for the Social Security Administration (SSA). She admitted that she used her SSA computer to intentionally access the SSA electronic records database to obtain personal information, earnings information and other background information of one or more persons. She exceeded her authorized access and used her position to obtain confidential information beyond the scope of her employment on hundreds of occasions, according to DOJ. As a special condition of her probation, she was ordered to receive mental health counseling.