(Photo: Markus Spiske)
The Department of Veterans Affairs announced a new data policy that aims to improve how the VA manages veterans’ personal information, including determining what services and benefits veterans qualify for.
The new Ethics Principles for Access to and Use of Veteran Data policy establishes nine tenants that all VA staff, partners, and other parties must follow to ensure that veterans’ data is responsibly used and managed. Among the policies is the right for veterans to, in a “user-friendly” manner, access their data to see how it is being used and to be able to request changes to their information should it be inaccurate.
The VA’s new data policy also includes a provision that requires shared data “be used in a manner that ensures equity to veterans.” This provision comes as the VA faces allegations of discriminatory practices, such as disproportionally denying benefits for black veterans and perpetuating a culture of racism and sexism. The Government Accountability Office is set to begin a formal investigation into previous claims of discrimination in the coming weeks.
Data security is another provision of the new policy and is another problem that has plagued the VA in the past. As recently as last year, 46,000 veterans’ personal and payment information was exposed in a data breach.
As of yet, the VA has not publicly elaborated on how it will enforce the new guidance policy, though it has established a timeline. In a Feb. 22 press release, the VA says, “the department is actively working to ensure all VA directives, policies and standards reflect these principles which the agency anticipates completing by the end of 2022.”
It is currently unclear why the VA anticipates the changes will take nearly two years to fully implement.
Author: Christian Southards
Coming from a family with a proud military background and wanting to contribute his writing skills to a worthy cause, Christian began writing for the California American Legion in August of 2020. His father is a 25-year Army Veteran and his grandfather served in the Navy during Vietnam.
