WASHINGTON – Social Security numbers and other data on 26.5 million veterans and military troops were not copied from a Veterans Affairs computer missing for eight weeks, the FBI said Thursday.

The recovery of the laptop and external drive was a “positive note in this very sad saga,” VA Secretary Jim Nicholson said.

“This has brought to the light of day some real deficiencies in the manner we handled personal data,” said Nicholson, who made the announcement at a House hearing investigating one of the nation’s worst information data breaches.

“If there’s a redeeming part of this, I think we can turn this around,” he said.

Officials recovered the computer equipment after an informant on Wednesday notified the U.S. Park Police that he had heard about a $50,000 reward and knew where they could be found.

The equipment was then turned in to officials in Montgomery County, Md., where the data analyst lives. No suspects were in custody.

“I don’t think the person knew the laptop was the laptop,” said Dwight Pettiford, chief of the U.S. Park Police.

The FBI, in a statement from its Baltimore field office, said a preliminary review of the equipment by its forensic teams “has determined that the data base remains intact and has not been accessed since it was stolen.”

Veterans groups cheered the news but said the government should provide them free credit monitoring.

“The worst-case scenario may have been averted this time, but an even greater tragedy would be if this type incident was allowed to happen again because of complacency,” said Joe Davis, a spokesman for the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

On Wednesday, President Bush asked Congress for $160.5 million to pay for credit monitoring and other fraud protection for affected veterans.