State Department to Punish Six Over Missing Laptop

Computerworld -

State Security Other known security lapses at the State Department: Employees failed to escort contractors who lacked security clearances. A “device” was planted by a Russian intelligence officer in an undisclosed room (December 1999). Classified documents were removed from Secretary Albright’s outer office by an unknown man who lurked in the halls without being questioned or apprehended. An unclassified laptop signed out to an Albright aide disappeared.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said that at least one senior official at the Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) could be fired, and the others could receive career-halting suspensions or letters of reprimand.

The department also announced that INR Director J. Stapleton Roy, one of the nation's three most senior foreign-service officers, had resigned from his post. Although Roy was scheduled to retire next month, Boucher denied reports that Roy was leaving earlier to protest the firing of his deputy, Donald Keyser, over the laptop incident. Keyser is reported to be the senior official facing termination over the incident, although Boucher wouldn't comment.

"We're up here saying that [Secretary of State Madeleine Albright] is concerned about the leadership of this bureau as we go forward and that she is making certain decisions about who should lead the bureau through transition in order to ensure that it is in solid shape as we go through this turmoil and proceed on to try to serve a new secretary," said Boucher.

The disappearance of the laptop "was a very serious matter" for the department, said Boucher. An investigation revealed that it contained thousands of pages of top-secret "codeword" information about weapons proliferation issues. It disappeared from a conference room at the State Department's headquarters and hasn't been recovered.

In response to this and other recent security breaches, Albright ordered a thorough review of security at the department. She also signed off on a training and awareness program that requires each office in the department to assign a staff member to serve as a unit security officer to ensure that security policies are observed.

However, some security and intelligence experts said Albright's response has been heavy-handed.

Stephen Aftergood, an intelligence specialist at the Federation of American Scientists in Washington, called the State Department's actions "heartbreaking" and said that there should be a better way to handle such situations.

"We are running the risk of creating a secure workplace where no one wants to work," said Aftergood.

Allen Thomson, a longtime CIA veteran, said, "Feckless officials are seized with the need to look tough, lest they be hauled before Congress and their budgets threatened."