Patterico's Pontifications

3/18/2017

I Suggest They Look In Cartagena For That Stolen Laptop…

Filed under: General — Dana @ 10:47 am



[guest post by Dana]

This is so not what the Secret Service wants to be in the news for:

A laptop computer containing floor plans for Trump Tower and other national security information was stolen from a Secret Service agent’s vehicle in New York City on Thursday, a law enforcement official told ABC News.

The agency confirmed that an agency-issued laptop was stolen, but it did not offer details on its contents. The Secret Service did say the stolen laptop itself could not have contained classified material but could have been used to access such material on a server.

In addition to the laptop, the thief made off with official Secret Service lapel pins, according to law enforcement sources with knowledge of the matter.

The computer is encrypted and authorities are able to wipe the hard drive remotely if needed.

The device, which belonged to a female Secret Service agent, was stolen during a break-in in Brooklyn, New York, law enforcement sources said. The burglary happened Thursday morning at 8:40 a.m. in the Bath Beach section of Brooklyn.

Here is the official statement from the Secret Service:

(Washington, D.C.) The U.S. Secret Service can confirm that an employee was the victim of a criminal act in which our Agency issued laptop computer was stolen.

Secret Service issued laptops contain multiple layers of security including full disk encryption and are not permitted to contain classified information.

An investigation is ongoing and the Secret Service is withholding additional comment until the facts are gathered.

The Secret Service requests anyone with information regarding this crime to please contact the New York Police Department and the U.S. Secret Service New York Field Office.

And contrary to popular reports, ABC News is reporting that “the Secret Service did not investigate Clinton’s emails and there would have been no reason for such information to be on a Secret Service laptop.”

Oh, and there’s this: That female agent who “was the victim of a criminal act,” had left the laptop in a backpack. On the car seat. In Brooklyn. New York City.

Also, another mishap involving the Secret Service happened just one week ago, when a young man from California jumped over the fence surrounding the White House:

Washington police identified the intruder as 26-year-old Jonathan Tran of Milpitas, Calif. When approached by a Secret Service officer on the south grounds about 11:38 p.m. Friday and asked whether he had a pass authorizing him to be in the restricted area, Tran replied, “No, I am a friend of the president. I have an appointment,” the police report said.

Asked how he got there, he said he “jumped the fence.”

The Secret Service said in a statement that the intruder, whom it did not identify, had climbed an outer perimeter fence near the Treasury Department and East Executive Avenue. He was arrested without further incident and no hazardous materials were found in his backpack, the agency said.

Yesterday, we found out that the intruder was on the grounds for quite some time before being arrested:

A new Secret Service timeline of the incident revealed the fence jumper scaled the first barrier at about 11:21 p.m. on March 10 — and wasn’t arrested until 11:38 p.m.

The Washington Metropolitan Police Department identified the man as Jonathan Tran, 26, of Milpitas, Calif. He is charged with entering or remaining in restricted grounds while using or carrying a dangerous weapon.

President Trump was in the residence at the time but was not threatened, the Secret Service said.

Further:

The Secret Service said in a statement that the intruder breached a 5-foot outer perimeter fence and scaled an 8-foot vehicle gate to gain entry.

The agency stressed the intruder never made it inside White House.

Well, that’s a relief.

(Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.)

–Dana

39 Responses to “I Suggest They Look In Cartagena For That Stolen Laptop…”

  1. In the best of hands.

    Dana (023079)

  2. At least Tran didn’t make it complicated and fire a weapon at the WH. That would have been way difficult for the Secret Service to investigate.

    Bill H (383c5d)

  3. When someone DOES fire a shot from the WH lawn, the Secret Service will blame someone else.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  4. What happened to the remote sensors?

    http://www.southwestmicrowave.com/products/

    Davod (f3a711)

  5. I didn’t understand Dan Bongino’s alarm when I first read it. The delay, since revealed, in capturing this threat explains it.

    https://www.conservativereview.com/commentary/2017/03/dan-bongino-trump-is-not-safe-in-the-white-house-anymore-heres-what-needs-to-be-done-now

    Ed from SFV (3400a5)

  6. What dangerous weapon? Sneakers?

    nk (dbc370)

  7. Mace in his backpack. It was California Man. Florida Man usually carries a gun.

    nk (dbc370)

  8. time these columbia graduated secret service nit wits take up knitting or something

    mg (31009b)

  9. Get Smart agent 99

    mg (31009b)

  10. Dana: “In the best of hands.” Surely you meant to say “Top Men”

    Davod (f3a711)

  11. Trump ought to have a pack of German Shepard’s for secret service. Only mans best friend serves as protector and best bud.

    mg (31009b)

  12. Not if Obama’s chefs are still in the White House. They’ll cook them.

    nk (dbc370)

  13. Irish Setter served once a year

    mg (31009b)

  14. Yet another attempt made today to breach the fence :

    An unidentified person was apprehended Saturday jumping a barrier in front of the White House, resulting in a full lockdown of the complex.

    The incident occurred at about 12:45 p.m. on the front side of the White House, along Pennsylvania Avenue. The person jumped over a stretch of bike-racks that serves as a barrier between visitors and the White House’s roughly 6-foot, black wrought-iron fence.

    Good to know it resulted in a full lockdown this time.

    Dana (023079)

  15. The incident previous to today’s was close. That would be quite a reversal of fortune for the Tran(s) of the world. Tia Tequila would jump off a cliff.

    How about going 29′ with spikes on top on The Wall and use the difference for one surrounding the White House? http://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-wants-build-30-foot-high-wall-mexican-153214020–finance.html

    urbanleftbehind (847a06)

  16. When they’re not out hoaring, getting drunk, letting intruders have free reign of the Wite House grounds for an inordinate amount of time, their leaving laptops in unsecured locations

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  17. That female agent who “was the victim of a criminal act,” had left the laptop in a backpack. On the car seat. In Brooklyn. New York City.

    In Bath Beach, which means south of 86 St., probably around the 18th avenue area. Which is one of the places Mafia people live, or used to live.

    But I read in the New York Post that it was on her (2015) Bajaj motorcycle (parked in her driveway)

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bajaj_Auto

    Bajaj Auto manufactures and sells motorcycles, scooters and auto rickshaws

    The person who stole it arrived there by car (probably an Uber taxi) but walked away on foot. This was at around 8:40 am on Thursday. Or maybe it was 3 a.m. (according to the New York Daily News.) There’s low quality video.

    He took the laptop, a backpack, a black zippered bag with the Secret Service insignia on it, an access keyboard, an access keycard, (the same thing?) an agency issued radio that agents used to communite with each other, coins, and used lapel pins that Secret Service that Secret Service agents wear while protecting the president or others (they were for President Trump, the Clinton campaign, the United Nations General Assembly, and the visit of Pope Francis to New York, and maybe more.)

    The perpetrator dumped the backpack in the snow outside a home on Cropsey Avenue, and the bag with the Secret Service logo on it was abandoned at the home of a teacher at a nearby high
    school, (not in the school itself as the New York Post has) along with some coins and a bag with papers. The laptop and the lapel pins are still missing and maybe some other things. The teacher gave it to security at her school, and it went to the head of security at the school, who is a retired New York City policeman, and he determined that they were Secret Service material and informed the agent on Friday morning because her name was on the material I suppose, and gave it back to her.

    The laptop is encrypted but cannot be erased remotely. It contained the type of material that they call sensitive but unclassified. It had files dealing the layout of Trump Tower, evacuation protocols, information regarding the investigation of Hillary Clintons’s private server (!?), and has (or had) the ability to access a server that contains classified informaiton.

    The victim, Secret Service agent Marie Angentieri, says there was nothing on it about White House officials or foreign leaders.

    Sammy Finkelman (3ea6b3)

  18. A good thing, maybe, she kept her gun in a safe place.

    Sammy Finkelman (3ea6b3)

  19. It was a clear violation of policy to leave that laptop in the car if not to bring it home in the first place. You should never leave anything valuable in your car.

    AZ Bob (f7a491)

  20. When someone DOES fire a shot from the WH lawn, the Secret Service will blame someone else.

    Kevin M (25bbee) — 3/18/2017 @ 1:01 pm

    “Oh- what I heard was a backfire. Yeah- that’s the ticket….”

    Bill H (383c5d)

  21. 20. AZ Bob (f7a491) — 3/18/2017 @ 8:45 pm

    It was a clear violation of policy to leave that laptop in the car if not to bring it home in the first place. You should never leave anything valuable in your car.

    She didn’t leave it in her car: She had left it on her motorcycle. Bajaj Auto makes scooters, motorcycles and rickshaws.

    If she had left it in her car, it wouldn’t have been so easy to steal. She probably left it there so that she wouldn’t forget it when she went to work.

    Sammy Finkelman (3ea6b3)

  22. When your teacher is the coyote, you may’ve issues. BEEP BEEP.

    mg (31009b)

  23. Trump should move out of the whitehouse and live in an undisclosed area so the lawyerly swamp of democrats and republicans won’t assassinate him.

    mg (31009b)

  24. I wonder how many red dots have been lazered on Trump by these swamp bigots?

    mg (31009b)

  25. She must be a blow in, a Native NY’er would never leave anything of value visible inside the car, ever. Good thing The President has kept (?)his private security people on the job.

    firefirefire (055899)

  26. firefirefire (055899) — 3/19/2017 @ 3:15 am

    , a Native NY’er would never leave anything of value visible inside the car, ever.

    For the third time, it was not in a car, it was on a motorcycle.

    Neither the story in the New York Post, nor the story that Conservative Tree House quotes hat I don’t know where it comes from said any of the things stolen was in a car. It said it was her driveway. That’s all they have said, Driveway, not car. The story quoted in Conservatie Tree House said vehicle, not car. The story in New York Daily News said car, yes. But logic tells me the New York Post is likely right.

    The New York Post gave the make of the motorcycle as Bajaj. ikipedia says Bajaj makes rickshaws, scooters and motorcycles. It does not say cars. The story quoted by Conservative Tree House
    gave amodel year, 2015.

    If a name of a mororcycle manufacturer is used, and it is indeed the name of a motorcycle manufacturer that doesn’t make cars, it stands to reason that a motorcycle was probably
    there.

    Now also consider – would it have been stolen so quickly if it was in car? Wouldn’t windows have to be bbroken? Nobody mentions any broken windows.

    My verdict is: Motorcycle, not car.

    Sammy Finkelman (3ea6b3)

  27. And she was very probably a native New Yorker – in fact someone who grew up in that neighborhood. She has an Italian name. And MAfia people lived there. There was not too much street crime in that area in the past.

    Sammy Finkelman (3ea6b3)

  28. Gee… so it could’ve been a rickshaw.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  29. Key word “past”…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  30. But she may not have realized that things have changed a little. There are maybe a few drug addicts there now, just like in rural America.

    Sammy Finkelman (3ea6b3)

  31. Or this could have been a complicated plot. It looks planned – I mean going theer by car and leaving by foot.

    Sammy Finkelman (3ea6b3)

  32. Don’t rule out an electric scooter. Given recent bureaucratic focus on “climate change” over actually performing their jobs more competently and with more efficiency, she may have been bucking for a promotion.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  33. The Secret Service WH Battle anthem should be Pink Floyd Brain Damage.

    The lunatic is on the grass…. the lunatic is in the hall

    steveg (5508fb)

  34. Clears it up for you, Sammy… “The video shows the man make a beeline for the agent’s car, removing a backpack with the computer inside and then walking off. As we reported, the hard drive contained Trump Tower floor plans and evacuation protocols, but the agency insists there was no classified info inside.” – TMZ

    Colonel Haiku (0b9b35)

  35. http://www.tmz.com/2017/03/20/mystery-thief-secret-service-laptop/

    TMZ doesn’t show the video, and probably doesn’t have the video, so their statement isn’t worth too much.

    One mention of a motorcycle equals three or more independent mentions of a car, because the mention of a motorcycle is odd, and not the kind of detail somebody wold invent or make amistake about.

    I still say a motorcycle cannot be ruled out, and the chances are somewhere around 50-50 each way , because there is no reason for any source to mention a motorcycle – and give its manufacturer too! A manufacturer that does not manufacture cars so it can’t stem from correctly getting the make and model and just making a mistake about the kind of vehicle it was – unless there really was a motorcycle there. even if the items weren’t stolen from the motorcycle.

    They could have been just left in the driveway, too.

    Now why would she keep that stuff outside? Could be:

    A) Because she is afrad she might forget to take them if she took it inside.

    B) To save herself 20 seconds when leaving.

    C) Because she thought nobdy would steal it in a snowstorm (problem theer is if this was unusual for her, how did the thief know?)

    D) Because sh has small children and this was way to keep her chidlren away from that stuff.

    And again, how could this happen?

    The video shows the man make a beeline for the agent’s car, removing a backpack with the computer inside and then walking off.

    How many cars can you just walk up to, and remove something? There’s no mention here of breaking a window? Even if the door was unlocked, (or open??) how could the thief anticipate that in advance?

    That argues it was indeed a motorcycle. And maybe in fact the police are releasing misinformation in order to detect false confessions, although I don’t know if they would outright lie.

    I might wait for an update, which would almost have to mention it was a motircycle if it was motorcycle, and probably would mention a car if it was a car, but theer has been no update., which fact might be significant. An official statement would probably have to be true, and would probably have to say what kind of a vehicle it was. The idea that it was a car comes from a leak.

    Also the person who told TMZ about the video might not have mentioned what kind of a vehicle it was, and TMZ put 2 and 2 together.

    Sammy Finkelman (3ea6b3)

  36. The TMZ article is also incomplete, and thus less informed than the New York Post was. It has a smaller list of things stolen, and a smaller list of what was on the laptop.

    That laptop didn’t just have information about Trump Tower and how to evacuate it (useful for someone planning a 2-step attack – get people out into an insecure room after sabotaging the air conditioning, say)

    It had some information about Hillary Clinton’s server, which they may be trying to keep secret. Keep secret that there was or is an investigation going on.

    I checked out to see if it was logical for the Secret Service to be involved in the investigation of Hillary Clinton’s server and it turns out it is.

    http://www.nextgov.com/cybersecurity/2015/12/should-secret-service-relinquish-its-cybersecurity-responsibilities/124216

    The agency is now responsible for maintaining the Electronic Crimes Task Forces, which hunts for international cyber criminals, and running the National Computer Forensics Institute, which provides cybercrime training for law enforcement professionals.

    In fact, the Secret Service is now one of the Department of Homeland Security’s components with the largest cyber workloads. In 2014, 10 percent of Secret Service employees’ hours were devoted to cybercrime investigations, according to the report. For comparison, about 32 percent of their time was spent on physical protection.

    So the Secret Service would be, or had been (this Secret Servce agent kept old lapel pins) checking to see if Hillary Clinton’s server was hacked.

    Sammy Finkelman (3ea6b3)

  37. Important question: Was there ever any official statement that said the laptop was in a car, or is taht detail only from “law enforcement sources?”

    Sammy Finkelman (3ea6b3)

  38. There was a statement from the Secret service. Did the statement say from where the laptop was stolen, or did it avoid that topic?

    Did it say a car, or is that only from “police sources?”

    The New York Post, which also only had “police sources” said motorcycle. It also said 840 am. which may be wrong because other sources say 3 am.

    I found this:

    http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2017/03/17/laptop-with-trump-floor-plans-stolen-from-secret-
    service-agent.html

    This doesn’t have the full statement, or if it does, the Daily Beast is not saying this is the entire text of the statement. But there is no mention here of how and from where it was stolen.

    “The U.S. Secret Service can confirm that an employee was the victim of a criminal act in which our Agency issued laptop computer was stolen,” the agency said in a statement. “Secret Service issued laptops contain multiple layers of security including full disk encryption and are not permitted to contain classified information. An investigation is ongoing and the Secret Service is withholding additional comment until the facts are gathered. The Secret Service requests anyone with information regarding this crime to please contact the New York Police Department and the U.S. Secret Service New York Field Office.”

    As most likely, I side with the New York Post about the nature of the vehicle, and with the other sources about the time of the crime.

    Sammy Finkelman (3ea6b3)


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