Sensitive Super Bowl anti-terror documents left on commercial plane

[ehrnst]

FFS...

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) documents detailing a simulated biological warfare attack in preparation for the Super Bowl were left in the seat pocket of a commercial aircraft, CNN reported Monday.

An employee for the news network reportedly found the documents, which included the phrases "important for national security” and “For Official Use Only.”

Included with the documents were a travel schedule and boarding pass for an individual who manages the DHS BioWatch program, according to CNN, which noted it was not able to confirm who left the documents on the plane.
The report included recommendations for improvement based on two simulation exercises meant to assess the authorities’ ability to respond to a potential biowarfare attack.

"This exercise was a resounding success and was not conducted in response to any specific, credible threat of a bioterrorism attack," DHS spokesperson Tyler Houlton said in a statement to CNN.

The documents' discovery is being reviewed, with DHS adding that the agency “does not comment on personnel matters or potential pending personnel action."

http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/department-of-homeland-security/372293-sensitive-super-bowl-anti-terror

[LisaM]

1. Why was someone with such sensitive documents traveling commercial?

I think that is taking cost-cutting in government to the extreme. Of course, I don't know who the official was, and where he/she was flying to and from, but speaking as someone who spent all day yesterday being bounced around to four different airports because of weather diversions, I can say it's pretty easy for a commercial air traveler to get a bit tired.

I don't know the circumstances and I'm not necessarily exonerating the person who left the documents, but it does seem as if this person should be using a safer mode of travel than a commercial aircraft.

[ehrnst]

2. I think that telling someone to keep it on their person would be a much

simpler and more cost effective way to keep this from happening.

And if someone can't be trusted to do that, should they even be in a position to receive classified information?

[LisaM]

3. Well, sure, but people do need to get up on planes from time to time.

I don't know all the circumstances, but it seems to me that a military or government flight would be a much safer choice. There's barely room in some seats on airplanes for a person, and there is NOWHERE to put stuff if you have to go to a bathroom, which, on the last few planes I was on, seem to have shrunk considerably.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

4. If some enemy nation really wanted to attack us,

they'd do it during a SuperBowl. They would probably need to exercise the patience to wait until the next time the Washington Redskins (or whatever they might be called in the future) are in the game. The entire city shuts down when their team plays. Yes, I know that's true in the home cities of many teams, but DC takes it to a new level. Attack halfway through the first quarter, and no one in power would even notice until the game was over. Or if Washington were to win, it would be a week or more before anyone would realize what had happened.

Luckily for us, our enemies do not understand just how important the SuperBowl is to so many people.