Data on Troop Movements, Weapons, Personnel Deleted From Pentagon Web Sites

The Pentagon, fearing national security was being compromised, ordered sensitive information pulled from its Internet sites on Friday. The information included troop movements, weapons development, Social Security numbers and reviews that could reveal secrets to adversaries.

The Defense Department’s 1,000 publicly accessible World Wide Web sites may be stripped down further by the end of the year after a Pentagon-wide review of data that was being thrown into cyberspace.

Deputy Secretary of Defense John Hamre, who ordered the review, said he recently became aware that some Web sites were offering too much detail on Defense Department capabilities, infrastructure, personnel and operation procedures.

Hamre said he was most concerned about the possibility that information about members of the military and their families, including Social Security numbers, telephone numbers, birth dates and home addresses, could be gained by tapping onto Web sites.

He ordered immediate removal of personal data from Internet sites pending results of the review in November.

Specifics also were eliminated on military movements, the location of units, installations or personnel in cases where “uncertainty regarding location is an element of the security of a military plan or program.”

Military plans and so-called lessons learned critiques of previous operations also were stripped from Web pages because the information could reveal sensitive military operations, exercises or vulnerabilities.

The Pentagon has been using the Internet to spread information to members of the military serving around the world, partly to speed up business and eliminate paperwork for contracts and administration. It also said it was aiming to be more open with Americans and the international community.

Hamre said the goal now is to manage the Web sites more closely and “to strike a balance between openness and sound security.”

Enemies of the United States such as terrorists, adversarial governments, members of organized crime and drug traffickers probably found the Pentagon sites a treasure trove of useful information, said E. Peter Earnest, president of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers, who worked for the CIA before retiring.

“It is a rich site of information, and any adversary is probing for vulnerabilities or weak spots,” Earnest said. “As you saw from the bombings in Africa, clearly enough homework was done to determine those sites had some weak spots.”

On Pentagon Web sites, maps and floor plans of military facilities can be reviewed and details about what new weapons do can be downloaded. During the Cold War, when the former Soviet Union and the United States were in a nuclear standoff, much of this type of information was classified, Earnest said.

Some hackers haven’t been satisfied with the Pentagon’s open Web sites and have tried to get into some of the department’s 2.1 million computers.

Last year, hackers penetrated medical data banks at veterans hospitals and changed blood types in soldiers’ records, Federal Computer Week magazine reported.