Secret Service laptop stolen: Can the agency shake its scandals?
Congress made recommendations for the Secret Service in 2015. But a theft in Brooklyn echoes earlier incidents.
Congress made recommendations for the Secret Service in 2015. But a theft in Brooklyn echoes earlier incidents.
A Secret Service laptop with details about floor plans and evacuation protocol for Trump Tower was stolen from a car parked in the driveway of an agent鈥檚 Brooklyn home on Thursday.
In interviews with several news outlets, New York City law enforcement officials described the theft as a possible compromise of national security, given that sensitive information on the laptop could not be accessed remotely. A Secret Service press release said that agency laptops have 鈥渕ultiple layers of security including full disk encryption鈥� and were not permitted to contain classified information 鈥撀爐hough it could be used to access a server which does, according to the New York Daily News.
A backpack and other goods were also stolen from the car, including an access keycard, an agency radio, and lapel pins with Secret Service insignia that gave the agent, Marie Argentieri, access to security details that protected President Trump,聽Hillary Clinton, and Pope Francis, according to CNN. The backpack has since been recovered.
The incident echoes another from 2015, when an agent鈥檚 gun, badge, radio, and flash drive were swiped from the back seat of his car in downtown Washington, D.C. That theft generated scant attention compared to major Secret Service scandals of years prior, but the Brooklyn theft may raise questions about whether the agency has adapted in the ways recommended by Congress in a report from that year.
The report, produced by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, noted that some agents involved in the 2012 scandal in Cartagena, Colombia 鈥撀爄n which servicemen were found to have hired prostitutes 鈥撀爈eft sensitive documents and equipment unsecured in their hotel rooms, wrote 海角大神鈥檚 Peter Grier then:
The theft in Brooklyn came less than a week after an intruder scaled the White House fence聽and remained on the grounds for more than 15 minutes, despite tripping several sensors. The Secret Service says it is investigating.
"The men and women of the Secret Service are extremely disappointed and angry in how the events of March 10 transpired,鈥� the agency said in a statement.
Two agents are also being investigated for allegedly taking selfies with Mr. Trump鈥檚 8-year-old grandson as he slept in a car bound from a Trump family estate in Westchester, N.Y. to Manhattan, reported Mother Jones this week.