But officials confident no ‘sensitive’ data lost

Federal documents obtained under a Freedom of Information Act request reveal that two divisions of the Department of Homeland Security – charged with assuring the integrity of U.S. borders and the safety of residents – lost nearly three computers every day for a year.

But an official statement assures citizens that no “sensitive” data was lost.

A report on the computers, which were designated as “lost” or “not found during physical inventory,” was issued by the Independence Institute in Golden, Colo., after it obtained the federal paperwork.

Federal agencies also “lost” several computer switches valued at some $90,000 apiece and a multitude of vehicles, including a truck worth about $116,000.

But Jon Caldara, president of the institute, said the absence of documentation about the information on the missing computers is what is most alarming.

“You can’t lose thousands upon thousands of computers and make a blanket statement there was nothing of value on any of them. The fact that they’re gone means you can’t make that statement,” he told WND.

“I see the Department of Homeland Security here more as the Department of Insecurity.”

He said if the agency could prove there was nothing of value on the units, “then terrific, then they’re just being wasteful and careless.”

But he questioned how the government can be so sure there was nothing significant, citing the scandal over missing computers and allegations of purloined nuclear secrets at the Los Alamos National Laboratory some years ago.

The report by the Independence Institute’s Todd Shepherd revealed that for fiscal year 2008, inventories from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Customs and Border Protection divisions show employees collaborated to lose no fewer than 985 computers.

The Customs and Border Protection division documented lost, stolen or damaged equipment (1,975 pieces) worth some $7.5 million. For ICE, it was 1,547 items worth $5.8 million.

Officials with the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a WND request for comment.

“When I look at these inventories with my own eyes, page after page, I still think there’s a good chance that we’re dealing with some significant security breaches, and possibly insider theft,” Caldara said in the report from the institute on the situation.

The report said Caldara had written to DHS Inspector General Richard Skinner seeking an investigation for the losses.

“You really have to look at these inventories, and go through them page after page to get an idea of how obnoxious these losses are,” he said.

In a explanation from the Customs and Border Protection, officials there said the agency has 92,351 various computers, so the loss of 549 “represents a loss rate of less than .59 percent, which is well within loss rates deemed acceptable by industry for asset accounting.”

The agency continued, “The items in question for CBP did not contain any sensitive data.”

“If CBP can lose more than 500 computers, and say categorically that there was no sensitive data on any of them, then I don’t know what CBP is using their computers for,” Caldara said.

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By Bob Unruh
February 25, 2010