Personal information on about 2.2 million active-duty, National Guard and Reserve troops was stolen last month from a government employee's house, officials said on Tuesday in the latest revelation of a widening scandal.

National Guard troops patrol outside a house fire in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, September 8, 2005. Personal information on about 2.2 million active-duty, National Guard and Reserve troops may have been stolen last month from a government employee's house, officials said on Tuesday in the latest revelation of a widening scandal. [Reuters]

This means nearly all current U.S. military personnel may be at risk for identify theft, the Pentagon said.

The Department of Veterans Affairs said the information, including names, Social Security numbers and dates of birth, may have been stored in the same stolen electronic equipment that contained similar personal data on 26.5 million U.S. military veterans.

Lawmakers and veterans' advocates have expressed alarm that the government failed to safeguard the data, which in the wrong hands could be used in credit card fraud and other crimes.

Law enforcement agencies investigating the incident have no indication the stolen information has been used to commit identity theft, officials said.

Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson disclosed last month that unidentified burglars on May 3 broke into the Maryland residence of a Veterans Affairs data analyst who had violated official procedures by taking the data home. The thieves stole equipment containing the veterans' data.

The government over the weekend said personal information on about 50,000 active-duty, National Guard and Reserve personnel may also have been involved in the theft.

But now Veterans Affairs said that as it and the Pentagon compared electronic files, officials discovered that personal information on as many as 1.1 million military members on active duty, 430,000 National Guard troops and 645,000 members of the Reserves may have been taken in the theft.

Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, said, "We want to encourage service members to be vigilant and carefully monitor their personal information and any statements related to recent financial transactions."

Whitman said the Pentagon was helping Veterans Affairs inform the affected military personnel about steps they can take to protect against identity theft.

The Department of Veterans Affairs said it receives records for all military troops because they become eligible to receive certain benefits, such as GI Bill educational assistance and a home-loan guaranty program.

Veterans groups have criticized the government for allowing personal data to be compromised and for responding slowly to the theft. Officials have said Nicholson first heard of the May 3 crime on May 16 and only informed the public on May 22, almost three weeks after the theft occurred.

"VA remains committed to providing updates on this incident as new information is learned," Nicholson said in a statement.

Nicholson previously has said the senior career data analyst who took the information home would be fired and that a senior official in whose office the employee worked had been placed on administrative leave. Another senior Veterans Affairs official has resigned.

The burglary from the employee's home in Aspen Hill, Maryland, involved a laptop computer with an external disk drive, officials have said.

Identity theft, or obtaining personal or financial information about someone else to make transactions in that person's name, has mushroomed with the growth of the Internet and electronic business.