Nominee to head VA policy office pledges to protect sensitive data
Patrick Dunne says he would implement a plan to change the department’s information technology culture.
The nominee to replace a Veterans Affairs Department official who retired as a result of the department's early May data breach told lawmakers Thursday that if confirmed, he would ensure that the protection of sensitive data becomes automatic.
Patrick Dunne has been nominated to head the VA's Office of Policy, Planning and Preparedness, where the longtime data analyst responsible for the breach worked. The analyst had been taking sensitive data on 26.5 million people to his suburban Maryland home for three years for a "personal fascination" project without the knowledge of his supervisors.
An inspector general investigation into the May 3 theft of that data revealed that a dysfunctional relationship between the office's senior career executive and its top political appointee hindered the department's response.
Dennis Duffy, a longtime career employee who was the office's acting assistant secretary for policy, planning and preparedness, has since retired. Michael McLendon, the office's former deputy assistant secretary for policy, resigned June 2 as a result of the slow response.
Dunne told the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee during a hearing that if he is confirmed, the office's employees "will know that I am there on day one." He said he will take charge of implementing VA Secretary James Nicholson's plan to change the department's information technology culture. Execution of the plan would fix the department's data management problems, Dunne told the panel.
Committee Chairman Larry Craig, R-Idaho, said Dunne is the right person to put the office "back together and lead it from the cloud it is under right now."
The nominee, a graduate of the Naval Academy, is a retired rear admiral with a 33-year career with the Navy. He received a master's degree in mathematics from the Navy's Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif.
The committee also heard the testimony of Thomas E. Harvey, nominated to become the VA's assistant secretary for congressional affairs.