The Department of Justice is looking into allegations that Department of Veterans Affairs employees improperly accessed the medical records of both the Republican and Democratic nominees for vice president.
According to the Washington Post, investigators found that at least a dozen VA employees accessed the records of Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) and Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) without the authority to do so.
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The news comes hours before Vance and Walz will meet in their only scheduled debate before the November presidential election.
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“We reported to law enforcement allegations that VA personnel may have improperly accessed veteran records," VA spokesperson Terrence Hayes confirmed in a statement. "We take the privacy of the veterans we serve very seriously and have strict policies in place to protect their records. Any attempt to improperly access veteran records by VA personnel is unacceptable and will not be tolerated."
Justice Department investigators have not yet determined if the records were shared or why the employees accessed them, according to USA Today.
Most of the VA staffers who opened the files used work computers in government offices. Among those who accessed the records, at least one was a physician and another was a VA contractor who looked through the records for extended periods, the paper reported.
Vance is a veteran of the Marine Corps who served from 2003 to 2007. He deployed to Iraq for six months, where he served in public affairs. Walz served in the National Guard from 1981 to 2005, when he retired to run for the U.S. House. His battalion deployed to Iraq shortly after Walz's retirement.
In a memo to VA employees, VA Secretary Denis McDonough wrote that veteran information should only be accessed when necessary to accomplish officially authorized and assigned duties.
“Viewing a Veteran’s records out of curiosity or concern – or for any purpose that is not directly related to officially authorized and assigned duties – is strictly prohibited,” he wrote.
There have been several other privacy breaches at VA over the past decade, In 2020, more than 46,000 veterans had private data breached.
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