A hard drive belonging to The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and containing personal data of former and curent employees was reported stolen.

The hard drive contained the personal, bank and payroll information of up to 100,000 TSA employees and was stolen from a human resources office in Crystal City, VA. Authorities realized Thursday the hard drive was missing from a controlled area at TSA headquarters. TSA Administrator Kip Hawley sent a letter to employees Friday apologizing for the lost data and promising to pay for one year of credit monitoring services. This delay upset some of TSA’s employees.

“TSA has no evidence that an unauthorized individual is using your personal information, but we bring this incident to your attention so that you can be alert to signs of any possible misuse of your identity,” said Kip Hawley, TSA Administrator.

The hard drive contained sensitive information on employees who worked for the TSA from January 2002 until August 2005. The agency employs almost 50,000 people and is the agency responsible for securing transportation systems in the country, including airports and railroads.

Yesterday, TSA announced a benefit package to provide employees and former employees affected by the data security incident with free credit monitoring for up-to one year.

In addition to credit monitoring, the package includes ID theft insurance up to $25,000, fraud alerts and identity restoration specialists who will complete paperwork and assist employees in the event they are a victim of identity theft. Current and former employees can register via phone, mail or online through a secure web site. More information is available at http://www.tsa.gov/, including a list of frequently asked questions.