Department Of Energy Loses 20 Classified PCs

[OhioChick]

The agency's Office of Inspector General reported that 14 of the computers held classified information and the other six may have, as well.

April 3, 2007 02:08 PM

A government counterintelligence office in charge of protecting information about nuclear technology from foreign espionage has lost 20 desktop computers -- most of them containing classified information, according to a report from the department's Office of Inspector General.

Fourteen of those missing desktop computers at the Department of Energy's Counterintelligence Directorate were known to hold classified information and the other six "may have" held classified information, Inspector General Gregory Friedman said in a March report. The government counterintelligence office is in charge of protecting information about nuclear technology from foreign espionage.

In response, the draft report recommends that the division strengthen internal controls over computer property; re-report previous incidents of loss to the Office of Security Operations; and, for future protection, properly mark computer equipment in the division as Unclassified, Confidential, Secret, or Top Secret.

This isn't the first computer loss for the DOE's Counterintelligence Directorate, which is part of the Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence, Friedman noted. In 2004, some 269 computers were reported missing from the Idaho National Laboratory. In 2005, Los Alamos discarded an Apple Mac G4 computer only to have it sold at auction with its hard drive intact.

http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=198702209

[kimmylavin]

1. ???

How in the world do you "lose" a desktop computer?
Laptops I could at least understand, but desktops?

Also, these people are "protecting information about nuclear technology from foreign espionage"?
Boy, do I feel safe!