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.
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.
The sign over the exit door:
"What you do here, what you see here,
leave it here, when you leave here,"
should still apply.
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.
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.
Yes.
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.
Everyone in the field has to eat those dreaded meals for a few weeks at a time.............AAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH
BTW.........your Mom's a gem.
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.
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.
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.
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