FBI computers, weapons continue to be lost, stolen

WASHINGTON — The FBI lost 160 laptops — including at least 10 containing sensitive or classified data and one with agents' names and addresses — between February 2002 and September 2005, according to a report released Monday by the Justice Department.

Inspector General Glenn Fine also reported that a similar number of weapons disappeared during the same period.

Fine's report grew out of an audit examining improved FBI efforts to keep tabs on its equipment. Progress has been made, he noted, but more work needs to be done.

"This is a significant deficiency," Fine wrote. "Without knowing the content of these lost and stolen laptops, it is impossible for the FBI to determine the extent of the damage these losses might have had on its operations or on national security."

The bureau has an inventory of 26,166 laptops and 52,263 weapons, according to the report.

One of the missing laptops, stolen from a facility in Quantico, Va., held the "names, addresses and telephone numbers of FBI personnel," the report stated. Another, stolen from the Boston field office, contained software to create identification badges, and one taken from the department's security division contained a "system security plan for an electronic access control system."

The bureau does not know what sensitive or classified information was on six other laptops and is uncertain whether an additional 51 machines — including seven missing from the bureau's counterterrorism and counterintelligence divisions — carried such high-value data.

The security measures on FBI laptops include encryption software and passwords, bureau spokesman Paul Bresson said.

In a statement, FBI Assistant Director John Miller highlighted progress the bureau has made in reducing the loss of equipment and disagreed with the report's conclusions about the number of missing weapons.

"Nonetheless, we acknowledge more needs to be done to ensure the proper handling of the loss and theft of weapons and laptops, and the information maintained on them," he said.

A 2002 inspector general's audit found that 317 laptops had disappeared, along with 212 working weapons and 142 inoperable ones, during a 28-month period.

Meanwhile, the Department of Veterans Affairs began notifying 1.8 million veterans and doctors Monday that their personal and business information could be on a portable hard drive that has been missing from an Alabama hospital for nearly three weeks.

The hard drive may have contained Social Security numbers and other personal information from about 535,000 individuals and billing information on 1.3 million doctors nationwide, the VA said. That's more than 37 times more people than authorities initially believed were affected.

An employee at the VA medical center in Birmingham reported the external hard drive missing on Jan. 22. It may have contained data from research projects, the department said.

Material from The Associated Press

is included in this report