DOD seized 60TB in search for Iraq battle plan leak

[struggle4progress]

Paul Roberts, IDG News Service

31/01/2005 07:39:07

The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) seized hundreds of computers and around 60T bytes of data as part of an investigation into how details of the U.S. invasion plan for Operation Iraqi Freedom were leaked to The New York Times, a DOD official said.

The investigation ended in 2003 without finding the source of the leak. However, it has prompted changes within the department, which is developing new software tools and investigative strategies for computer crime cases that involve large amounts of data, said Lt. Col Ken Zatyko, director of the DOD's Computer Forensics Laboratory.

The investigation was prompted after details of the U.S.'s planned invasion of Iraq appeared in a series of newspaper articles in the Times beginning in July 2002. The articles revealed various details of the planned invasion and options that were being considered by military planners. Operation Iraqi Freedom was launched in March 2003.

The Times articles set off an intense effort within the DOD to discover the source of the leak. Hundreds of computer servers and desktop systems were seized at a number of locations, including U.S. Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida, and from military bases in the Persian Gulf region, including the U.S. Naval base in Bahrain, Zatyko said. <snip>

http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;266473746;fp;16;fpid;0

[mike_c]

1. these people HATE the truth, and hate it even more...

...when the truth sees the light of day. Someone likely leaked the information to expose the Bush administration lie that invasion was a "last resort." The administration and their toadies in the DoD FEAR the truth about their crimes becoming public knowledge.

[Massacure]

2. 60 terrabytes of data? Damn that is a lot!

It must take a lot of time and money to sort through that much data.

[DulceDecorum]

3. And this is ever so much more important

than finding out who made those stock trades just before September 11.