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September 29, 2005
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By Michael S. Woodson
Soldiers fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan are not even secure at home after thieves broke into an unlocked records center at Ft. Carson, Colorado and stole four computer disks containing the personnel records of soldiers fighting the Global War on Terror around the world. The computer disks contained the soldiers and possibly their dependents' social security numbers, units, birthdates, ranks, military specialties, and citizenship information, an Army official said.
The victims included soldiers from the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, the 2nd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, the 3rd Brigade Combat Team 4th Infantry Division, and possibly the 10th Special Forces Group, as well as soldiers from Reserve and National Guard components now on active duty, said Major Mary Martindale, Deputy Adjutant General at Ft. Carson for the Army's Installation Management Agency ( IMA ).
Martindale said the thieves were able to break in through an unlocked rear window of the Soldier Readiness Processing Center. The theft follows on the heels of another burglary at Ft. Carson where thieves stole numerous computers from the post's Staff Judge Advocate office as well as the Directorate of Public Works, the Army says.
The Directorate of Public Works is a basic infrastructure agency, the Army says. That doesn't sound too sexy until one discovers the role of the Directorate of Public Works "in military operations during a Mass Casualty response" as stated in 7ID & Fort Carson Regulation 525-2-3 of 30 December 2002. According to that mouthful Public Works department personnel:
· Provide first responder and decontamination support.
· Furnish any needed building or utilities plans.
· Furnish a representative to serve on the Survivor Working Group
· Assist the survivors and casualty assistance officer or summary court-martial officer in coordinating a flexible schedule for vacating any government quarters.
And if that security breach wasn't bad enough, a week and a half after the first burglary thieves finessed their way into the Soldier Readiness Processing Center on the weekend of Aug. 20-21 and stole computer hard drives containing thousands of personnel records, Fort Carson spokeswoman Dee McNutt acknowledged. Ft. Carson is the permanent home of the Seventh Infantry Division and has several brigades of combat infantry and armored cavalry troops in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.
McNutt declined to comment on whether there were any suspects in either case.
Both places are guarded by civilian security guards from Wackenhut Corporation, a nationwide security firm with multiple Defense Department contracts. Civilian security guards from firms like Wackenhut have replaced Military Police for general security responsibilities in all but the most sensitive military installations in the United States.
A September 5th copy of the military's nationwide Force Protection Advisory offered a few more clues into the crime. It said "in the past month there have been a number of thefts of government computer's from a single CONUS (Continental United States) Army Post" without identifying where, while offering a summary of events amazingly similar to what reportedly occurred at Ft. Carson.
The advisory announced that stealthy burglars first broke their way into the "Directorate of Public Works" and stole an unreported number of "desktop and laptop computers" before breaking into the "Staff Judge Advocate's office" and helping themselves to more of the same without arousing the suspicions of the post security police. Subsequently the thieves "cut a screen and entered a Soldier Readiness facility through a window" where the "subjects disassembled four computers" and stole four hard drives and other components inside the devices without being detected, the advisory reported.
The advisory went on to note that the burglaries had revealed many "vulnerabilities" at the undisclosed location, including the possibility that the theft of the soldiers' identities that "could be exploited for criminal or terrorist purposes."
Martindale is perplexed that her department wasn't notified of the thefts so it could have taken extra precautions to foil the burglars before their second successful foray, she said. If Ft. Carson is the scene of the crimes noted in the Force Protection Advisory Martindale's department was soundly criticized for failing to secure its equipment when the offices were closed.
"If there were other break-ins within a week and a half, why weren't people told about them so they could take precautions?" Martindale asked
The thefts at Ft. Carson were followed by the theft of personnel records from an Air Force personnel computer in Texas. On August 22nd hackers cracked an Air Force computer at Randolph Air Force Base near San Antonio and made off with the Social Security numbers and other private information of about 33,000 people, an Air Force spokesman said at the time. The information stolen contained the names of about half of the officers in the Air Force, the spokesman at the Air Force Personnel Center at Randolph reported.
The case is under investigation, the Air Force says.
The thefts in both places raise a serious question - is it only a credit and identity protection issue or do the thefts represent a homeland security issue also? Apparently, it could be all of these!
The Homeland Security Department got into the act in its September 14, 2005 Daily Open Source Infrastructure Report (which defines itself as a " summary of open source published information concerning significant critical infrastructure issues") that included a September 9, 2005 Rocky Mountain News report of a personnel records theft from Ft. Carson's Personnel Readiness Processing Center.
Publicly the Army is emphasizing the risk to soldiers' identities, credit, and finances and citing lessons on the importance of monitoring one's credit. Indeed, DOD regulations require that persons whose individual information may have been compromised be informed within ten days of the discovery. Martindale said this is being done through posted announcements, press releases and via newspapers. Mailing individual notices to those who could be affected is also under consideration, Martindale said.
The Army spokesperson said the personal information of the Ft. Carson soldier's dependents was "probably" not compromised. According to the 2004 Post Guide to Ft. Carson published on Ft. Carson's website entitled "Commanding General's Vision Statement," the Soldier Readiness Program process for Reserve and National Guard soldiers also involves gathering information about "family members, spouse, next of kin, special needs, medical problems, I.D. card and pay options." Information about dependents would more likely be kept at the unit level, not in the Processing Center, Martindale said.
Several calls to Chris Grey, the designated spokesman for the Fort Carson Resident Agency of the Army's Criminal Investigation Division ( CID ) went unanswered. One special agent who did answer the telephone declined to comment on whether the private information lost in the burglary could be used by criminals or terrorists to obtain background checks through online companies or government agencies.
The North Vietnamese propaganda machine used Jane Fonda's (L.) visit to North Vietnam to curry favor with the American public despite its repulsive treatment of American prisoners held in North Vietnam. Fonda was briefed about the pilot's identities and 'war crimes" before she was taken to meet them during her visit to the infamous Hanoi Hilton prison.
Personal information about combatants has been used during interrogations, as well as for propaganda and psychological operations in previous wars. In POWs and Politics: How Much Does Hanoi Really Know the authors detail splendidly how the enemy uses personal information for propaganda purposes.
Ft. Carson officials have posted a website advisory entitled the Ft. Carson Leader's Guide that explains what sort of claims are payable by the Claims Division of the Administrative Law Division of the Staff Judge Advocate. These claims include losses by soldiers to "vandalism, theft, and unusual damage occurring on post," and "death, personal injury, or damage/loss of property when the injury or damage is negligently caused by soldiers/government employees while performing their duties."
The thefts also raise a more immediate question – where were Ft. Carson's civilian gatekeepers while the burglars rampaged through the post not once, but twice, ultimately stealing the most sacred information a soldier and his family possesses - their identities? The disappearance of such privileged information leaves one wondering how three potentially sensitive computer thefts could happen during an elevated DHS Yellow security status on a post as important as Ft. Carson?
"This could happen in any corporation," McNutt said. "It's always good to be aware that your personal information could get out there and you should know the steps you need to protect it."
So who guards the guards?
©2005 DefenseWatch. Attorney Michael S. Woodson is a Contributing Editor for DefenseWatch Magazine. He also writes on military, civilian, international and other public affairs. His email address is Mike7Woodson@aim.com. Please send Feedback responses to dwfeedback@yahoo.com.
All opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not
necessarily reflect those of Military.com.
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