Why does a 'special agent' for the US department of transportation have 133,000 names, SS#s, birthdates, etc of FL residents?

Consumers get burned again.


More bureaucratic incompetence from this administration according to the Washington Post:

Transportation Dept. Reveals 2nd Laptop Theft in Florida Office

"The inspector general's office at the Department of
Transportation disclosed yesterday the theft of another laptop from one of its agents in Florida, the second such report in less than a week. ....

"[Inspector General] officials began reexamining the incident after a different laptop was stolen last month from a special agent's government-issued vehicle near Miami. That laptop contained the unencrypted names, Social Security numbers, birthdates and addresses of as many as 133,000 Florida residents."

Some obvious questions emerge:

• Why does an 'agent' of the department of transportation have the SS#s etc of 133,000 Florida residents?

• What kind of 'special agents' does the Dept of Transportation have that need/seek/use names and address of 133,000 residents of any state?

• Who is snooping on whom and why?

Related article about Veterans Affairs losing a second computer (if things happen in threes, guess each of these has one more to go).
washingtonpost.com, lost latptops,, lost computers, stolen computers
stolen data, department of transportation, special agents, florida , bureacratic incompetence