"The investigation continues to see whether or not this information has been compromised in any way," or whether copies of the data have been made, Nicholson said just before a scheduled hearing before the House Commitee on Veterans Affairs.

Nicholson's announcement appeared to catch those at the hearing completely by surprise and the start of the hearing was briefly delayed.

The laptop theft touched off a firestorm among veterans and government officials angered that the data, which included personal information on active-duty military personnel as well as veterans, had been compromised.

It was not immediately clear how the laptop and hard disk were recovered.

More to follow.