{"id":214632,"date":"2026-02-17T16:41:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T21:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/17\/privacy-act-revamp-va-data-at-risk-26-challenges-one-mission\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T17:00:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T22:00:10","slug":"privacy-act-revamp-va-data-at-risk-26-challenges-one-mission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/17\/privacy-act-revamp-va-data-at-risk-26-challenges-one-mission\/","title":{"rendered":"Privacy Act Revamp; VA Data at Risk; 26 Challenges, One Mission"},"content":{"rendered":"

Privacy Act Revamp; VA Data at Risk; 26 Challenges, One Mission<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/pulse\/wrap-privacy-act-revamp-va-data-risk-26-challenges-one-mission-br9ic<\/a><\/p>\n

Publish Date: 2026-02-17 16:41:00<\/a><\/p>\n

Source Domain: www.linkedin.com<\/a><\/p>\n

\n Welcome to The Wrap for Tuesday, February 17!\u00a0<\/span>\n <\/p>\n

\n From the newsroom at MeriTalk, it\u2019s the quickest read in federal tech news. Here\u2019s what you need to know today:\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\n <\/p>\n

\n Rep. <\/span>Lori Trahan,<\/span> D-Mass., is calling for <\/span>an overhaul of the Privacy Act of 1974,<\/span> which hasn\u2019t been updated since \u2026 well, ever. And quite a lot has changed in the tech world since 1974. Today, Trahan published a 68-page <\/span>report<\/span> after spending the last 10 months gathering and reviewing stakeholder input on how to revamp the Privacy Act. \u201c<\/span>The Privacy Act was written for a world of file cabinets and mainframe computers, not one defined by cloud storage, data brokers, and AI,\u201d<\/span> Trahan said in a statement, adding, \u201cAmericans should be able to trust that their personal information is handled responsibly by their government.\u201d Trahan outlines a <\/span>bipartisan framework for Congress to modernize the Privacy Act,<\/span> including recommendations such as strengthening the limits on the collection, use, and sharing of Americans\u2019 sensitive personal data. Her recommendations also include enhancing oversight mechanisms, right-sizing requirements to promote compliance, and <\/span>establishing and resourcing a chief privacy officer at every agency.<\/span> Trahan summed it up, saying, <\/span>\u201cCongress should not squander its opportunity or ignore its charge.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\n <\/p>\n

\n Access creep is real at the <\/span>
\n U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
\n <\/span> (VA), per a new <\/span>
\n Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Inspector General
\n <\/span> (OIG) report. The report says that user access controls in the agency\u2019s <\/span>Integrated Financial and Acquisition Management System<\/span> (iFAMS) <\/span>are not sufficient<\/span> to protect sensitive VA data. How much access are we talking? The VA OIG said that <\/span>91% of the 2,818 users<\/span> with access to the VA\u2019s Technology Acquisition Center (TAC) data did not work for the TAC as of February 2025. Additionally, the VA OIG…<\/span><\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Privacy Act Revamp; VA Data at Risk; 26 Challenges, One Mission https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/pulse\/wrap-privacy-act-revamp-va-data-risk-26-challenges-one-mission-br9ic Publish Date: 2026-02-17…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":214633,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/media.licdn.com\/dms\/image\/v2\/D5612AQHZObwP8D7ldQ\/article-cover_image-shrink_720_1280\/B56Zxth1YNHgAI-\/0\/1771364112412?e=2147483647&v=beta&t=zLof6LdYfuKvve872zN6qC-VCAEXfhMbLm1p-dm702s","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-214632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-privacy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214632"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214632"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214632\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":214634,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214632\/revisions\/214634"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/214633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}