"Police investigate how OIA SSI material ended up in dumpster"

Thursday, April 5, 2007

Police look into airport breach
Orlando detectives want to know how sensitive documents ended up in a trash
bin at OIA.
By Jim Leusner
The Orlando (FL) Sentinel


Police are investigating how sensitive security documents detailing Orlando
International Airport schematics, fuel-storage facilities and communications
systems were found in a dumpster last month.

Orlando police Capt. Paul Rooney said Wednesday that investigators have just
begun a probe to determine how the documents, labeled "sensitive security
information" not to be released without a "need to know," were discarded.

"The Orlando Police Department is conducting an investigation at this
point," said Rooney, who heads the agency's airport division. "We don't know
if it's a crime or not, if it's a theft or burglary from an office. We're
definitely going to look into it."

The documents were part of a three-volume, 20-year growth master plan for
the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority. Also included was a photocopied
booklet of blueprints. Though largely a planning document with innocuous
projections, land-use and expansion drawings, potentially sensitive
information is sprinkled throughout the mostly double-sided, 652-page report
dated August 2004.

Airport spokeswoman Carolyn Fennell said she was unaware of the OPD
investigation. "I know nothing about it at this point," she said.

A teenage aviation enthusiast came upon the documents in a dumpster and took
them as a "souvenir." A parent turned the materials over to the Orlando
Sentinel, two weeks after two Comair employees were charged with smuggling
14 guns and 8 pounds of marijuana on a Delta flight to San Juan, Puerto
Rico.

The teen and parent said they were acting as "good Samaritans" in turning
the documents over to the newspaper and did not want any publicity.

On Wednesday, Orlando police Det. Jay Mack sent an e-mail to a Sentinel
reporter seeking an interview for his investigation. Sentinel editors
declined the offer, citing company policy preventing reporters from
participating in most police investigations and the desire to avoid
accusations of bias.

The dumpster sits behind an unfenced, general-purpose warehouse on airport
property on Dowden Road, a public street north of Lake Nona. "No
trespassing" signs are posted outside the building.

Last month, the Sentinel turned the documents over to Robert Raffel, GOAA's
top security official. He said the documents were not the ultra-sensitive
security plan for the airport, but contained information that should have
been shredded or destroyed. He vowed to take steps to prevent it from
happening again, including increasing document-security awareness for the
airport's 16,000 workers and randomly inspecting airport dumpsters.

The documents contained warnings stating they were deemed sensitive under
federal law and should not be released without permission from the
Transportation Security Administration or the Secretary of Transportation.
The warnings threatened "civil penalty or other action" for unauthorized
release.

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