"Stolen airport screener training laptops recovered in Seattle"

Wednesday, August 25, 2004

Stolen airport screener training laptops recovered in Seattle
The Associated Press


SEATTLE (AP) - Six laptops containing sensitive airport security
information have been recovered from a source who contacted authorities
after reading that the computers had been stolen, the FBI disclosed. 

The laptops, taken from a motel storage room near Seattle-Tacoma Airport
late last month after being used to train airport screeners, were
recovered Monday, FBI agent Roberta Burroughs said late Tuesday. 

The person who led agents to the laptops said he realized they had been
stolen after reading newspaper reports and is not believed to be
involved in the theft, Burroughs said. 

Still missing was the aluminum shipping case that contained the laptops
when they were taken from a hotel storage room July 28. 

No arrests have been reported. 

Burroughs said the investigation was continuing and would not give
further details, including where the computers were found or whether
information on the hard drives had been downloaded. 

Information on the laptops, including how to read X-ray machines and
conduct searches, could be used by prospective terrorists to evade
detection, security screeners said. 

A similar laptop was reported stolen last fall during a break in a
training session at a hotel meeting room in Philadelphia. 

Each laptop and all the screener training files were password-protected,
officials said. 

A trainer who reported the suburban Seattle theft called it a "breach of
national security," but officials of the training contractor, Lockheed
Martin, denied that public release of the information in the laptops
would compromise national security. 

Transportation Security Administration employees described the material
as "sensitive security information," defined by the Department of
Homeland Security as information that could be "detrimental to the
safety of passengers in transportation."


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