WASHINGTON — The Department of Veterans Affairs launched an investigation yesterday after its inspector general discovered veterans' documents for financial benefits may have been shredded in some regional offices.

Destruction of the documents, which were not duplicated in government files, could have affected veterans' eligibility for benefits, the VA said.

The VA ordered an immediate freeze on further document shredding while officials determine whether the problem is more widespread. Regional office directors will have to certify that no original copies of key documents from veterans' cases under consideration are being destroyed.

U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Akaka, D-Hawai'i, chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, said he supports the freeze but that it isn't a long-term solution.

"VA needs an enforced and understood policy which preserves documents relevant to pending claims without leaving veterans' personal information open to identity theft," Akaka said. "Veterans must be able to trust VA to safely keep their records."

The VA inspector general found veterans' documents waiting to be shredded during an audit at some of the VA's 57 regional offices, which process applications for disability pay, VA pensions and educational, mortgage and other assistance.

According to Glen Gardner, national commander of the VFW, the VA during a conference call yesterday acknowledged that 10 or more of such veterans' documents were discovered at offices in Detroit, St. Louis, St. Petersburg, Fla., and Waco, Texas.

"We have to believe that the VA will right this wrong, but the VA must also establish the internal controls to ensure no other acts of willful destruction will ever happen again," said Gardner, a Vietnam veteran.

VA Secretary James B. Peake said that anyone who violated VA policy on protecting documents will be held accountable.

The VA has had trouble in the past with keeping records secure.

In May 2006, the VA announced that a laptop computer and an external hard drive containing 26.5 million personal records of current and former service members had been stolen. The equipment was recovered in June 2006 and the VA said it was confident that no sensitive information had been copied from it.