Archive for January 28th, 2009
Thrift store MP3 player contains secret military files
(CNN) — A man walks into a thrift store.
It sounds like the opening line to a bad joke. And this case was a bad joke — for the Pentagon.
Chris Ogle of New Zealand was in Oklahoma about a year ago when he bought a used MP3 player from a thrift store for $9. A few weeks ago, he plugged it into his computer to download a song, and he instead discovered confidential U.S. military files.
“The more I look at it, the more I see, and the less I think I should be,” Ogle said with a nervous laugh in an interview with TVNZ.
The files included the home addresses, Social Security numbers and cell phone numbers of U.S. soldiers. The player also included what appeared to be mission briefings and lists of equipment deployed to hot spots in Afghanistan and Iraq. Most of the information appears to date to 2005.
The New Zealand journalist who first reported the story was able to contact at least one of the soldiers by dialing a phone number found in the files. He hung up once she explained why she was calling. 
Pentagon officials told CNN that they are aware of the MP3 player, but can’t talk about it until investigators confirm that the information came from the U.S. Department of Defense.
“The government isn’t doing a good job of protecting the information that it collects,” said Marc Rotenberg of the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington.
Despite government efforts to protect sensitive information, this is a growing problem, privacy experts say.
Two years ago, the Department of Veterans Affairs lost track of a laptop with the personal information of millions of soldiers. And computer hard drives with classified military information have been found for sale at street markets in Afghanistan.
“When you can identify American personnel, when you have their names, their home address, their cell phone numbers, you put people in a dangerous position,” Rotenberg said.
In this case, the personal information for several hundred soldiers landed in friendly hands. Ogle told CNN the MP3 player is being kept in a safe place and he will happily turn it over to U.S. military officials if they ask for it.
Yeah, just when will the military learn to disallow autorun AND to abolish the ability to use any USB drive on their systems?
Geez…
What you didn’t hear about in the news… At least I didn’t
Washington Regional Threat and Analysis Center
Daily Summary, #2009-036
Friday, 16 January 2009
UNCLASSIFIED //FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY //LAW ENFORCEMENT SENSITIVE
FBI FIELD INTELLIGENCE GROUPS:
9 December 2008 Discovery of Radiological Dispersal DeviceComponents, Literature, and Radioactive Material at the Maine Residence of an Identified Deceased US Person
On 9 December 2008, radiological dispersal device components and literature, and radioactive materials, were
discovered at the Maine residence of an identified deceased USPER James Cummings. Cummings had possible
ties to white supremacist groups.
On 9 December 2008, four one-gallon containers of 35 percent hydrogen peroxide, lithium metal, thermite,
aluminum powder, beryllium, boron, black iron oxide, and magnesium ribbon were discovered at the
Cummings’ residence. (FBI comments: Literature on constructing ‘dirty bombs’; information referring to
cesium-137, strontium-90, and cobalt-60; and possible evidence linking James Cummings to white
supremacist groups were also discovered.)
(Source comments: Amber Cummings admitted to the shooting death of her husband James Cummings
citing years of mental, physical, and sexual abuse. Amber Cummings retained legal counsel upon being
questioned by law enforcement about any involvement with white supremacists. James Cummings was reported
to have inherited two million dollars and to have resided in multiple states prior to relocating to Maine.)
Amber Cummings indicated James was very upset with Barack Obama being elected President. She
indicated James had been in contact with ‘white supremacist group(s)’. Amber also indicated James mixed
chemicals in the kitchen sink at their residence and had mentioned ‘dirty bombs’. (Source comment: State
authorities detected radiation emissions in four small jars in the residence labeled ‘uranium metal’, as well as
one jar labeled ‘thorium.’ The four jars of uranium carried the label of an identified US company.)
FBI comment: Further preliminary analysis on 30 December 2008 indicated an unlabeled jar to be a second jar of
thorium. Each bottle of uranium contained depleted uranium 238. Analysis also indicated the two jars of
thorium held thorium 232.
An application for membership in the National Socialist Movement, which had been completed by James
Cummings was discovered.
FBI comments: Uranium, thorium, cesium-137, strontium-90, and cobalt-60 are radioactive isotopes. 35 percent hydrogen peroxide is a necessary precursor for the manufacture of peroxide-based explosives. Lithium metal, thermite, and aluminum are materials used to sensitize and amplify the effects of explosives. The identified US Company in this report sold the depleted uranium online.
Source: FBI IIR 4 218 1563 09
Found with Google while performing some Google hacking. Now, has anyone else heard about this in the media? I Googled some of the key names etc and did not come up with anything from any of the mainstream media.
Just thought you all might like to know…
