Security alert as thief grabs military laptop

[William Knowles <wk () C4I ORG>]

http://www.the-times.co.uk/news/pages/sti/2000/05/21/stinwenws01039.html

May 21st 2000

A SECURITY review was under way last night after a thief snatched an
intelligence officer's laptop computer from a London railway station.

The thief took the 2,000 ($2972.00 U.S.D.) machine after following a
naval intelligence officer onto a train at Paddington.

Two months ago a laptop belonging to an MI5 officer was snatched at
the same station when he put it down to buy a ticket. The computer,
which was never recovered, contained details of the Northern Ireland
peace deal.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) insisted yesterday that the latest theft
did not involve classified information.

Whitehall insiders said, however, that the laptop contained
specifications for the next generation of fighter aircraft and details
of how they can be controlled from the ground.

It is believed the thief did not appreciate the computer's contents
and sold it to a dealer for about 100. The dealer has since tried to
sell details of the contents to a tabloid newspaper for 15,000, but
the computer has not been returned. A man has been held in connection
with the theft after MoD police studied surveillance video tapes.

The Paddington thefts are the most embarrassing incidents for the
intelligence services since a laptop was stolen from a senior RAF
officer at the height of the Gulf war.

One intelligence source said: "It is unbelievable that something like
this can happen twice in the space of two months. People should know
that you don't put a laptop computer down at a railway station and
expect it to still be there when you turn round."

Government departments are being ordered to tighten precautions after
a recent wave of laptop thefts. One disappeared after a junior MI6
officer left it in a taxi after a night's drinking in a tapas bar.
Another, containing details of army pay and pensions, was snatched
while a lieutenant-colonel was waiting to check in at Heathrow
airport.

The Gulf war computer, containing secrets of the allies' war plans,
was taken from Wing Commander David Farquhar's official car when he
stopped to visit a car showroom in Acton, west London. He was
court-martialled for negligence and sacked.

The MoD confirmed the latest theft yesterday. A spokesman said: "The
laptop did not contain any classified information and MoD police have
been informed. Some of the luggage has already been recovered."


*-------------------------------------------------*
"Communications without intelligence is noise;
Intelligence without communications is irrelevant."
Gen. Alfred. M. Gray, USMC
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