US Military Secrets for Sale at Afghan Bazaar

If you knew just what went into having classified data on your computer in the Military you'd know that this story is extremely unlikely...

Each drive that is used to hold classified data is serialized and tracked... And, locked up when not in use.

I am surprised to hear of the use of Flash Drives as it was a long standing rule when dealing with Classified data that **NO** removable media was allowed...

That would include Floppies; Flash drives and USB Hard Drives...

In fact I fully expect not to be allowed to take my MP3 player of Flash Drives inside my new civil service job...

So, forgive me if I am a bit incredulous at the LA Times (let's make the government look bad) story...

Of course the drives may be being released to provide misinformation?

Mike Sr.

 

Mary Mapes, anyone ?

 

If the stories are proven true and not 'somewhat fabricated' then someone hasn't been doing their job...

As I said removable media is not an Authorized Storage Medium for Classified Information...

Note: Senisitve but not Classified might be another issue...

If it is now acceptable for our troops to carry around Removable Media with Classified Data on it...

Then the Office that Authorized it needs to be Nuked!

As this is an obvious stupid move no rational or sane Intelligence Officer would condone...

I can't concieve of anyway they would be authorized without body searches going in and coming out of a facility...

It's just "unthinkable"...

And, trust me NBC and MSNBC aren't exactly the paragons of what's best for America...

Stories are too easily embellished and editorialized for my tastes...

 

George Bush and his neocon pals were Trojan horses that co opted and killed the conservative movement. The U.S. military has been co opted to serve the few rich elites back as far as 1898. Ask Major General Smedly Butler.

 

LE,

It's always possible that if a position is over run that Classified Destruction Protocols can't be accomplished...

It's also possible that some mis-labeled stuff got thrown out...

Classified Materials are supposed to be cataloged and destroyed !with witnesses!...

The 'stuff' in the bazaar may be innocuous...

It may have been 'cleaned' with the /G option and certified for disposal...

I suppose if there were a lot of materials one or two could have slipped through...

But, there are protocols to prevent that. (If followed)

The material may have been considered so out of date no one cared... Still a breach of protocols...

The reporter may have found 'stuff' and added the 'Secret' part of the report... To generate interest...

Was this a "Staff" reporter or a "Freelance" reporter...

Again many unanswered questions...

It will be interesting to see what comes of it...

And, yes, given the number of 'Generals' with leaky mouths... Yes, no doubt, there are a few that are looking to hurt us from within...

But, doing this in a war zone could be an act of suicide if caught...

I am sure that if a *real* breach has occurred that the appropriate (embarrassed) people are being interviewed and will be punished accordingly...

Mike Sr.

 

We use portable thumb drives with Classfied data now. I had one in my possession just this morning.

I could go look in the dumpster right now outside the barracks and likely find something marked classified.

The thing is that whomever wrote that story did no favors to the US (and abetted the problem by printing it) by not reporting it to the authorities.

It is likely that the information is so outdated anyway, that it would be of little use to anyone now.

Besides, we dont leave stuff lying around to let anyone take. I have to escort people with security clearances and American citizenship inside the spaces that contain classified data or items, and that is after it has been sanitized.

I think we have more trojan horses in the media.

 

emerald,

What can you share about the level of audit and control in use with Flash Drives?

It would seem to be a *very* large hole (potential) in security...

Especially with 1GB drives being commonly available...

Also, they are pretty close to indestructable at the data level...

A blow torch would work... But, merely grinding it with a boot wouldn't gurantee it couldn't be reconstructed...

Erasure and Re-Formatting would probably be much better than a Floppy or Hard drive (no 100 times a pattern)...

Yet, from my days in the Militrary I remain shocked and incredulous at their use...

BTW:
I remember hearing a story of a very minor leak about F-4's when they first came out...

But, it raised a red flag with the Russians and ended up getting people killed by agents trying to figure out what was really wrong with the plane so they could exploit it...

Leaks, however small, can be *very* serious business... You never know who is listening...

Or, to what lengths they'll go to connect the dots...

A lot of the media never was embedded or exposed to combat so they are simply totally ignorant!

Mike Sr.

 

Yes I can confirm we use alot of different media storage and transfer devices but to say anymore would require me to verify your clearance and/or kill you

Seriously...we do nothing to aid the situation by talking about it or asking for more info...it is the same vicious circle...even us Marines can figure that out

 

"Huh"?

Here I am about to (hopefully) get a job at MCLB Albany, Ga and you're implying that I might not be working among the brightest and the bestest!?!?!?

Semper Fi!

And, no, I really don't want any "Burn Before Reading" stuff...

Some reassurances, maybe...

That things haven't gone completely to pot after I got out. (Of the Navy)

Mike Sr.

 

I have heard of companies disabling USB ports and even filling them with epoxy to keep company secrets safe. Maybe that is something for the military to consider.

 

With or without technology, there is always something that can be revealed by reading what you find in the garbage. It is like putting a puzzle together. It is only dangerous if you actually understand what you are looking at. And 99.9% of the time, you would have to be the author of such a thing to understand the potential damage that could be done, which is usually not too much.

A realistic view of classified information was explained this way: If you wanted to gather intel on aircraft for example, you could ask 100 people that work with it, each 100 questions. Even if they each only answered 1 question, you would have enough information to sound intelligent enough to write a book about it (see Tom Clancy or Sherry Sontag).

Were the items found in the souk damaging? You will never know. If only for the reason brother Koon wrote.

The thumb drives can be utterly destoyed. If you dont believe me, ask my neice who dropped hers in the driveway.

 

Emerald,

They can be destroyed as far as a "Lay-Person" is concerned...

But, as long as the 'chip' is intact anyone with an electronics background can resurrect it, if they feel it's worth the effort...

Electro-Static Discharge can kill them, too...

Though, if the information is valuable enough...

If there is a chance only the I/O is blown out...

(Memory Matrix itself may remain intact...)

An expert might still be able to extract useful information...

So, please encourage people to keep track of their thumb drives...

And, Password protect personal information...

Mike Sr.