- WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The
U.S. Pacific Fleet's warships and submarines were missing nearly 600 computers
as of late July, including at least 14 known to have handled classified
data, an internal Navy report obtained on Friday said.
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- The fleet, based in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, sought to prevent
release of the Naval Audit Service report, even though it was not classified.
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- "A release of this information could negatively
impact national security," wrote Rear Adm. Jonathan Greenert, the
fleet deputy commander in chief. His comments, dated Sept. 6, were contained
in an appendix of the report.
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- The audit service found "a serious risk that PCs
containing sensitive and classified information have been lost or compromised,
which presents a threat to national security and a potential embarrassment
to the Department of the Navy."
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- All 595 of the missing laptop and desktop units featured
removable hard drives, had been leased to the Navy, and were capable of
processing classified information, the investigators said.
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- The report, published in its final form this month, was
obtained first by Defense Week, a trade paper publishing its story on Monday.
Defense Week made excerpts available to Reuters.
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- The Navy declined comment on the current status of the
missing computers or any other aspects of the matter.
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- The audit dealt with only a small fraction of the Navy's
computers. The Atlantic Fleet was not examined. And in the Pacific Fleet,
shore facilities -- where most computers are located -- were not surveyed.
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- "At least 595 personal computers (PCs), including
at least 14 reported to be used for classified purposes, and possibly more,
remained missing as of 23 July 2002 from afloat units" of the Pacific
Command, the report said.
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- "Data was not available as to how many of the remaining
PCs were used for classified processing," added a footnote, leaving
open the possibility that many more or all of those missing might have
handled secret information.
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- The auditors cited a breakdown in management of the leased
computers and the lack of any system to track them.
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