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CentCom Laptops Missing From HQ
The Tampa Tribune ^ | Aug 7, 2002 | GEORGE CORYELL and LENNY SAVINO

Posted on 08/07/2002 8:32:06 AM PDT by Freebird Forever

MacDILL AIR FORCE BASE - Two laptop computers are missing and may have been stolen from the closely guarded headquarters of Gen. Tommy Franks here, federal authorities confirmed Tuesday.

Maj. Mike Richmond at the Air Force Office of Special Investigations said his agency is one of those investigating the possible theft of the laptops. A spokeswoman for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Lt. Cdr. Barbara Burfeind, said late Tuesday that she would not comment ``on any ongoing investigation.''

Franks directs the U.S. and coalition forces searching for remaining al-Qaida and Taliban fighters in Afghanistan from the headquarters here of U.S. Central Command, also known as CentCom, where the computers were last seen.

The laptops have been missing since Thursday. Security was heightened at the base on Friday, but spokespersons for both the base and CentCom declined to say why, explaining that they couldn't discuss security issues.

CentCom would not confirm that the computers were stolen.

Besides Afghanistan, CentCom is responsible for U.S. military operations in a number of other countries in the region, including Iraq, and has been deeply involved in planning for a widely expected U.S. effort to topple Saddam Hussein.

Authorities would not speculate on who may have walked off with the laptops. Military leaders and strategists from coalition forces from the Mid- East and Europe occupy trailers next to CentCom's headquarters building.

Concrete barricades surround the massive headquarters, and guards with M-16 automatic rifles protect the compound.

Laptops typically are used by Pentagon strategists making presentations at CentCom and elsewhere. The briefings typically outline future tactical or strategic plans for military operations.

There is already an uproar in the Pentagon over security leaks and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has publicly pledged to ferret out those responsible.

Intelligence experts familiar with MacDill said the disappearance may simply have been a crime of opportunity - perhaps a case of someone grabbing the laptops because they'd been left unattended - rather than a foreign intelligence penetration.


TOPICS: Breaking News; Crime/Corruption; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: centcom; laptops; macdill; missing; stolen; tommyfranks
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To: doc30
Don't forget that USF, about 10 miles north of MacDill AFB, is a hotbed of Islamic militancy!

Good point.
Isn't there a professor from USF who is under investigation for raising funds on behalf of hamas or islamic jihad?

I'd bet that he could "move" some classified data if it found it's way into his possession.

21 posted on 08/07/2002 9:48:35 AM PDT by Freebird Forever
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To: OldFriend
And the fact that he told you any of that was in itself
a security violation.

The sign over the exit door:

"What you do here, what you see here,
leave it here, when you leave here,"

should still apply.

22 posted on 08/07/2002 9:57:36 AM PDT by ASA Vet
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To: OldFriend
"There are traitors in EVERY branch of government. Time to start giving lie detector tests to the persons who lost their lap tops."

Exactly right - especially after the Clinton Crime Gang left thousands of "their people" (people funded by the Chicoms and drugrunners and terrorists) in every single Federal Agency = including the Defense Dept.

23 posted on 08/07/2002 10:10:28 AM PDT by Freedom'sWorthIt
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To: vannrox
a little too simple...
warfighters carry laptops onboard many recon planes
24 posted on 08/07/2002 10:33:45 AM PDT by rhombus
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To: Freedom'sWorthIt
To say nothing of the evil America haters left there by Jimmy Carter.
25 posted on 08/07/2002 10:39:54 AM PDT by OldFriend
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To: Freedom'sWorthIt
To say nothing of the evil America haters left in the State Department by Jimmy Carter.
26 posted on 08/07/2002 10:40:07 AM PDT by OldFriend
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To: ASA Vet
And so when I asked him why he couldn't email me from work, he should have said......Mom, if I tell you I'll have to kill you.
27 posted on 08/07/2002 10:41:34 AM PDT by OldFriend
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To: OldFriend
That's true! Jimmuh had his own pile of traitors. Wonder if any of FDR's communist buddies are still there?
28 posted on 08/07/2002 10:48:25 AM PDT by Freedom'sWorthIt
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To: Rodney King
Or, attach some kind of GPS homing chip to locate the H/D if it is removed.
29 posted on 08/07/2002 11:08:26 AM PDT by Aggie Mama
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To: Aggie Mama
Has anyone checked behind the photocopier? ; - )
30 posted on 08/07/2002 11:15:29 AM PDT by FOL(iberty)
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To: Aggie Mama
Ever hear of a movie called The Man Who Never Was? It was the true story of a dead man the British allowed to be found onshore, I believe in Spain, with the "real" plans for the D-Day invasion on his person to trick the Nazis. Could these be The Laptops That Never Were?
31 posted on 08/07/2002 11:17:01 AM PDT by SoCal Pubbie
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To: OldFriend
I don't advocate sons killing or threatening to kill Mom.
His response could have been a simple,
"Mom, I can't."
You had no "need to know," anything further.

I can understand the frustration.
My Mom used to nag me constantly about writing home more often.
Since I couldn't tell her anything at all about what I was doing at work,
and I certainly didn't want to tell her what her darling boy
was doing after work, it made real short notes home.
One time she sent me postcards to just fill in with check marks
answers to the questions, "Are you alive?" "Do you need food?" etc.

32 posted on 08/07/2002 11:32:01 AM PDT by ASA Vet
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To: aShepard
Is the government so far out of control that it can't provide any security to sensitive assets??

Yes.

33 posted on 08/07/2002 12:46:27 PM PDT by 1Old Pro
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To: ASA Vet
Reminds me of a conversation I had with the mom of one of my daugter's college roommates. Mom says she thinking of putting her kid's picture on a milk carton........
34 posted on 08/07/2002 12:49:54 PM PDT by OldFriend
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To: OldFriend
Another thing about Moms postcard gimmick.
I'd check yes on alive and need food.
I'd get about 20 guys to sign it.
Mom would respond with either a homemade cake,
cookies, or apples.
The cakes and cookies were usually stale by the time I got them,
but still much better than the hocky puck pound cake in "C" rations.
All three were gold in southeast asia.

She once sent me some toilet paper with Santa Claus figures on it as a joke.
She didn't realize it was several grades better than the #3 grit Army issue tissue.
I had to hid it.

35 posted on 08/07/2002 4:18:23 PM PDT by ASA Vet
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To: ASA Vet
Actually anything in the world would be better eating, even the toilet paper....LOL......than MRE's.

Everyone in the field has to eat those dreaded meals for a few weeks at a time.............AAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH

BTW.........your Mom's a gem.

36 posted on 08/07/2002 5:53:30 PM PDT by OldFriend
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To: OldFriend
Agreed, I have several packages of MRE,
(Meals rejected by Ethiopians,) in storage.
They were issued to me, but I choose not to eat
for a few days, rather then eat them things.

I once offered an MRE to my 125lb male Akita.
(Pause for timing)
My dog bit me.
(insert snare drum flam here)

C's were much better tasting, also the empty cans could
be rigged with a pinless grenade and a trip wire.
Try that with a left over plastic/aluminum MRE wrapper.

37 posted on 08/07/2002 6:38:44 PM PDT by ASA Vet
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To: aShepard
If I shop at Home Depot, and they want to protect their $59.00 electric drill, they lock this little $1.00 wire thingy on the drill. When I leave Home Depot and they forgot to deactivate the 1/10th of a cent microchip inside the package, it sets off the alarm.

The military also uses the wire lock, when it's in a stationary spot, the problem comes into play when the laptop is being transported. Maybe they need to start cuffing them to their owner.

38 posted on 08/08/2002 7:00:19 AM PDT by WellsFargo94
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To: vannrox
I like your ideas. You get an "A". Laptops are too easy to slink away with. Now disconnecting your average P.C., that would raise some eyebrows and would take too long IMO. Even trying to put secrets on a disk like the guy did from the Energy Dept. would take some time. And he got let go because he played the ethnic card.
39 posted on 08/09/2002 2:08:42 PM PDT by floriduh voter
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To: Salvation
Maybe this "soldier in custody" also planted bugs in this secure area. If he had clearance for that area, he could do that when nobody was lookin.

Is this guy a muslim air force person, and they put him in a classified area to be politically correct so he would know that we believed that Islam was a religion of peace? I wouldn't be surprised. I WISH WE COULD HEAR HIS NAME in case it has Mohammed in it.

40 posted on 08/09/2002 2:12:40 PM PDT by floriduh voter
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