Sensitive U.S. military data turns up in Afghan bazaar
BAGRAM, Afghanistan – A computer drive sold openly Wednesday in a bazaar outside the U.S. air base here holds what appears to be a trove of potentially sensitive American intelligence data, including the names, photographs and telephone numbers of Afghan spies informing on the Taliban and al-Qaida.
The flash memory drive, which a teenager sold for $40, has scores of military documents marked “Secret,” describing intelligence-gathering methods and information – including escape routes into Pakistan and the location of a suspected safe house there, and $50 bounties paid for each Taliban or al-Qaida fighter apprehended based on the source’s intelligence.
The documents appear to be authentic, but the accuracy of the information they contain could not be independently verified.
On its face, the information seems to jeopardize the safety of intelligence sources working secretly for U.S. Special Forces in Afghanistan, which would constitute a serious breach of security. For that reason, the Los Angeles Times has withheld personal information and details that could compromise military operations.
U.S. commanders in Afghanistan said an investigation was under way into what shopkeepers at the bazaar describe as ongoing theft and resale of U.S. computer equipment from Bagram. The base is the center of intelligence gathering activities and includes a detention center for suspected al-Qaida and terror suspects flown in from around the world.
“Members of the Army’s Criminal Investigation Command are conducting an investigation into potential criminal activity,” a statement said.
The top U.S. commander here, Lt. Gen. Karl W. Eikenberry, has ordered a review of policies and procedures relating to the accountability of computer hardware and software.
“Coalition officials regularly survey bazaars across Afghanistan for the presence of contraband materials, but thus far have not uncovered sensitive or classified items,” the statement added.
The credibility and reliability of some intelligence sources identified in the documents is marked as unknown. Other operatives, however, appear to be of high importance, including one whose information, the document says, led to the apprehension of seven al-Qaida suspects in the United States.
The shop clerk who sold the computer drive said an Afghan worker smuggled it out of Bagram base Tuesday, a day after the Times first reported that military secrets were available at several shops in the bazaar.
The one-gigabyte flash drive sold at the bazaar Wednesday is almost full, and contains personal snapshots, Special Forces training manuals, records of “direct action” training missions in South America along with numerous computer slide presentations and documents marked Secret.