Re: [TSCM-L] Sticky Fingers

So, lets look at the numbers here:

During the 44 months in questions the FBI "lost"  on average 3.63 laptops per month, or roughly one per week.

Given that the FBI averages one senior agent retiring each week there may be a correlation between agents retiring and the count of laptops coming up short.

Match that count with same number of firearms missing and the probability of the laptops being stolen as opposed to merely "lost" increases dramatically.

At least there is a marked decrease in thefts by agents down from 2002, where they where losing an average of 10.7 laptops per week due to theft.

OK, so the FBI is losing guns and laptops... but wait, there is more.

A fairly large number of these missing laptops contained highly classified materials (51 of them were believed to contained Secret or above, and at least 10 of them where confirmed to contained Top Secret).

Laptops which contain classified materials just don't magically disappear... they get stolen, or not. Laptop thieves are not sneaking into secure FBI buildings and stealing these, it is FBI agents and employees who are stealing them.

Yeah, sure, a laptop can get "lost" on paper where it got turned over to a tech for repair or shipped back to a service depot to work, but these eventually show back up, *** AND *** laptops with classified information on them are so tightly controlled that the only way that one can take missing is for someone in a position of trust to actually steal it.

Now, given that more then a few agents have (historically) had sticky fingers when it comes to technical goods, munitions, and firearms a larger picture emerges where an agent can steal from their employer can (and have) stolen equipment with impunity. It is very commonplace for agents to use FBI equipment for personal gain or purposes, or to use FBI procured bugs for moonlighting assignments and to assist them in setting up their own business when they leave government service.

The last few bureau employees/agents who have gotten jammed up on the wrong side of the law (like Hansen and others) got caught with huge caches of weapons, computers, bugs, and other equipment they had collected for their own personal use.

Guess where the missing laptops will be found?

-jma






http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/02/12/fbi.laptops/index.html

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The FBI lost at least 10 laptop computers containing classified information during a four-year period ending in 2005, the Justice Department's inspector general has found.

The 10 were among the 160 laptops lost or stolen during a 44-month period ending September 30, 2005, Inspector General Glenn Fine reported. Along with the laptops, an equal numbers of weapons were also missing.

The report said the number of missing items, while still a problem, represents a sharp improvement since a 2002 audit, which found more than 300 laptops and 300 weapons lost or stolen during the previous 28-month period.

Fine said that among the 10 missing laptops known to contain sensitive or classified information was one that had identifying information on FBI personnel.

Several more lost or stolen laptops may also contain sensitive counterintelligence or counterterrorism information, the report said.

"Most troubling, we found that the FBI could not determine for 51 additional lost or stolen laptops whether they contained sensitive or classified information," the report said. "Seven of these 51 laptops were assigned to the counterintelligence or counterterrorism divisions."

The report said the FBI maintains more than 50,000 weapons and more than 20,000 laptops in its inventory.

In its response, the FBI agreed with several recommendations for maintaining tighter control on its weapons and laptops.

The bureau took issue with the count of missing firearms, saying 43 of the unaccounted weapons had been reported missing before the period covered by the report.



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