Military Is Missing 2 Computers

Two computers are missing from the Florida headquarters of the U.S. Central Command, which is running the military operation against the Taliban and Al Qaeda forces in Afghanistan, a military spokesman said Wednesday.

“I can confirm two computers are missing. An investigation is underway,” said Lt. Col. Martin Compton of Central Command, located at MacDill Air Force Base here.

Compton would not say what the missing computers were used for or how long they had been gone. But in Washington, Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters that one of the missing computers was believed to contain classified material.

The disclosure came two days after a government report said the FBI, Immigration and Naturalization Service, and three other Justice Department law enforcement agencies had found that at least 775 weapons and 400 laptop computers were stolen, lost or missing over a recent two-year period.

Asked at a Pentagon briefing about the problem of security, Myers said it was not clear what happened to the computers.

“In the end, security comes down to individual responsibility,” he said. “It comes down to your trust and confidence in the people that work there. And you do all the appropriate checks and all that sort of thing to ensure that the people have the right background.”

Central Command is responsible for military operations in most of the Middle East and nearby areas. It uses units from all the U.S. military services.

Several U.S. allies that have sent forces to Afghanistan have representatives at Central Command headquarters, including Britain, Canada and Australia.