Washington ? The government said Tuesday it would no longer offer free credit monitoring for up to 26.5 million veterans whose sensitive information was stolen since the data had been recovered.

The announcement came one week after the FBI determined with what it said was a “high degree of confidence” that the information stored on a Veterans Affairs employee’s laptop and external drive had not been accessed. Still, it drew a protest from veterans groups who said the VA was abandoning a promise to protect them.

“We are outraged that the administration would renege on its offer of one free year of credit monitoring,” said Bob Wallace, executive director of Veterans of Foreign Wars. “There is no 100 percent assurance that the laptop was not compromised.”

Steve Robertson, legislative director of the American Legion, said many of its members had already signed up for credit monitoring, expecting that the government would reimburse them.

“They need to notify the veterans for those who have already signed up they will honor the promise they made,” he said.