Super Bowl anti-terrorism documents left on plane

[txradioguy]

The Department of Homeland Security documents critiquing the response to a simulated anthrax attack on Super Bowl Sunday were marked "For Official Use Only" and "important for national security."

Recipients of the draft "after-action" reports were told to keep them locked up after business hours and to shred them prior to discarding. They were admonished not to share their contents with anyone who lacked "an operational need-to-know."

But security surrounding the December 2017 reports suffered an embarrassing breach:

A CNN employee discovered copies of them, along with other sensitive DHS material, in the seat-back pocket of a commercial plane. The reports were accompanied by the travel itinerary and boarding pass of the government scientist in charge of BioWatch, the DHS program that conducted the anthrax drills in preparation for Super Bowl LII in Minneapolis.

The reports were based on exercises designed to evaluate the ability of public health, law enforcement and emergency management officials to engage in a coordinated response were a biological attack to be carried out in Minneapolis on Super Bowl Sunday.

The exercises identified several areas for improvement, including the problem that "some local law enforcement and emergency management agencies possess only a cursory knowledge of the BioWatch program and its mission."

http://www.cnn.com/2018/02/05/us/dhs-super-bowl-national-security-documents-left-on-plane-invs/

[WingNot]

An absent minded professor is gonna have some splainin to do.

[mountaineer]

A CNN employee discovered copies of them, along with other sensitive DHS material, in the seat-back pocket of a commercial plane.

How convenient. Who makes it a habit to rifle through the seatback pockets of commercial aircraft? Can't say that I've ever observed this behavior.

[WingNot]

How convenient. Who makes it a habit to rifle through the seatback pockets of commercial aircraft? Can't say that I've ever observed this behavior.

I did.  Every flight I was ever on I checked the seat back pockets. 

[dfwgator]

[edpc]

A CNN employee discovered copies of them, along with other sensitive DHS material, in the seat-back pocket of a commercial plane. The reports were accompanied by the travel itinerary and boarding pass of the government scientist in charge of BioWatch, the DHS program that conducted the anthrax drills in preparation for Super Bowl LII in Minneapolis.

Imagine their embarrassment at the conference presentation when they pulled a greasy, wrinkled copy of Sky Mall, with a half complete sudoku out of the briefcase.

[mountaineer]

I did.  Every flight I was ever on I checked the seat back pockets.

I check the ones in front of Mr. and me, just to make sure we didn't leave anything behind. Who checks other passengers' seatbacks?

[WingNot]

I check the ones in front of Mr. and me, just to make sure we didn't leave anything behind. Who checks other passengers' seatbacks?

When you're at the back of the plane doing the deboard / disembark slow crawl...  you have time to kill.  :)

[edpc]

I check the ones in front of Mr. and me, just to make sure we didn't leave anything behind. Who checks other passengers' seatbacks?

It was probably on a busy shuttle flight going back and forth from Minneapolis to a hub, like O'Hare.  Cleaning crews go through quickly and aren't doing detail jobs.

[Suppressed]

Imagine their embarrassment at the conference presentation when they pulled a greasy, wrinkled copy of Sky Mall, with a half complete sudoku out of the briefcase.