WHY DID THE VA HAVE ACTIVE DUTY SOLDIER FILES?

How Did the VA Get Active Duty Records?
The Big Question the Media Isn't Asking

There is ABSOLUTELY NO REASON for the VA to possess active military records. None. And yet now we discover that the mysterious "VA employee" who just happened to have access to 26 million or so vets' personal info also had over personal records on over 2 million ACTIVE military personnel. Why the hell has no one in the White House press corps - or anywhere else in mainstream media lalaland, for that matter - asked WHY the VA has over 2 million active duty records, and how and why could any VA employee have accessed this info. Does NO ONE in the press have even enough brain cells to compute the simple equation: Veterans Administration = veterans....as in discharged, non-active-duty soldiers.

What is troubling is the WHY. The only motive I can fathom for the VA to be collecting this info is as a "preemptive strike." As in who to ... with in the future (for ex., as in whose records to ”lose” – one of the common ploys preventing recently discharged soldiers from accessing benefits). As it stands, the DAV says that at least one-third of all veteran claims are now wrongfully denied benefits - of those that actually make it through the two-year bottleneck to a final decision.

Or it could be that the Bush administration is having this info collected on the sly to add to GOP mailing/phoning lists, since the active military will be under closer scrutiny in 2004 and 2008 than they have been (officers were caught pressuring soldiers into voting for Bush in 2004). And these are just the most benign reasons I can think of. Whatever the reason the VA may have for possessing this info, you can bet your arse it ain't strictly legal!!

But I find it highly interesting that the VA employee just happened to take BOTH sets of records home with him. Was he performing some sort of activity - one that whoever supplied him with the records didn't want him to perform at his office under danger of scrutiny? And isn't it just a little bit too coincidental that this was the night his computer was stolen.

Where are the investigative reporters??????!!!!