Top-secret files stolen from back seat of agent's car

[William Knowles <erehwon () KIZMIAZ DIS ORG>]

http://www.scmp.com/News/World/Article/FullText_asp_ArticleID-19991115030656052.asp

(South China Morning Post) [11.15.99] There are red faces all around
at Canada's spy organisation after top-secret documents were stolen
from the back seat of an agent's car.

In what is being described as the most serious security breach in 20
years, documents outlining the future plans of the Canadian Security
Intelligence Service (CSIS) were stolen last month by drug addicts
while the agent was watching an ice-hockey game in Toronto.

The thieves were apparently looking for money when they saw a
briefcase in the car parked outside the arena where the Toronto Maple
Leafs play.

And a police investigation has concluded that the sensitive documents
were later tossed into a rubbish bin and ended up in a landfill site.

The CSIS, which was formed in 1984, is responsible for
counter-intelligence and counter-terrorism efforts in Canada.

The agency, which is charged with guarding the Government's deepest
secrets, is extremely embarrassed by the lapse.

CSIS officials were trying to play down the importance of the
documents, saying they contained no details of intelligence sources or
specifics of operations.

But an agency official was forced to conclude "we consider the loss of
the documents to be a serious matter of national security".

It is not the first time the CSIS has slipped up. Earlier this autumn,
there were reports that one of its spooks had posted on the Internet
the names and pictures of Canadian fighter pilots who served in the
Balkans war.

In another incident, a computer disc containing the names of targets
of CSIS intelligence probes was found by a member of the public.

"This is simply a debacle," said Jim Abbott, an MP with the opposition
Reform Party. "We look like we are in amateur hour."

But even as cartoonists and satirists feasted on the story, there were
warnings that Canada's spy agency was now seriously compromised. The
country is not a specific target for terrorists but it proximity to
the United States and its open access to banking and
telecommunications make it attractive to terrorist groups.


==
Some day, on the corporate balance sheet, there will be
an entry which reads, "Information"; for in most cases
the information is more valuable than the hardware which
processes it. -- Adm. Grace Murray Hopper, USN Ret.
==
http://www.dis.org/erehwon/

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