<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2873" name=GENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT size=4></A><BR></DIV>
<DIV class=body><I>From the Los Angeles Times</I></DIV>
<H1><FONT size=7>Data Leaks Persist From Afghan Base</FONT></H1>
<DIV class=storysubhead><STRONG><FONT color=#ff0000 size=5>A computer drive sold
at a bazaar for $40 may hold the names of spies for the United States who inform
on the Taliban and Al Qaeda.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV>By Paul Watson<BR>Times Staff Writer<BR><BR>April 13, 2006<BR><BR>BAGRAM,
Afghanistan A computer drive sold openly Wednesday at a bazaar outside the
U.S. air base here holds what appears to be a trove of potentially sensitive
American intelligence data, including the names, photographs and telephone
numbers of Afghan spies informing on the Taliban and Al Qaeda. <BR><BR>The flash
memory drive, which a teenager sold for $40, holds scores of military documents
marked "secret," describing intelligence-gathering methods and information
including escape routes into Pakistan and the location of a suspected safe house
there, and the payment of $50 bounties for each Taliban or Al Qaeda fighter
apprehended based on the source's intelligence. <BR><BR>The documents appear to
be authentic, but the accuracy of the information they contain could not be
independently verified. <BR><BR>On its face, the information seems to jeopardize
the safety of intelligence sources working secretly for U.S. Special Forces in
Afghanistan, which would constitute a serious breach of security. For that
reason, The Times has withheld personal information and details that could
compromise military operations.<BR><BR>U.S. commanders in Afghanistan said an
investigation was underway into what shopkeepers at the bazaar describe as
ongoing theft and resale of U.S. computer equipment from the Bagram air base.
The facility is the center of intelligence-gathering activities and includes a
detention center for suspected members of Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups
flown in from around the world. <BR><BR>"Members of the Army's Criminal
Investigation Command are conducting an investigation into potential criminal
activity," a statement said.<BR><BR>The top U.S. commander here, Army Lt. Gen.
Karl Eikenberry, has ordered a review of policies and procedures for keeping
track of computer hardware and software.<BR><BR>"Coalition officials regularly
survey bazaars across Afghanistan for the presence of contraband materials, but
thus far have not uncovered sensitive or classified items," the statement
added.<BR><BR>The credibility and reliability of some intelligence sources
identified in the documents is marked as unknown.<BR><BR>Other operatives,
however, appear to be of high importance, including one whose information, the
document says, led to the apprehension of seven Al Qaeda suspects in the United
States.<BR><BR>One document describes a source as having "people working for
him" in 11 Afghan cities. "The potential for success with this contact is
unlimited," the report says. <BR><BR>Even the names of people identified as the
sources' wives and children are listed details that could put them at risk of
retaliation by insurgents who have boasted about executing dozens of people
suspected of spying for U.S. forces.<BR><BR>The drive includes descriptions of
Taliban commanders' meetings in neighboring Pakistan and maps of militants'
infiltration and escape routes along its border with Afghanistan.<BR><BR>In
another folder, there is a diagram of a mosque and <I>madrasa</I>, or Islamic
school, where an informant said fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar had
stayed in Pakistan.<BR><BR>Another document describes in detail how a member of
Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency, or ISI, the Taliban's former
mentors, tried to recruit an Afghan spying for the U.S. by promising him $500 a
month.<BR><BR>Some of the documents can't be opened without a password, but most
are neither locked nor encrypted.<BR><BR>Numerous files indicate the flash drive
may have belonged to a member of the Army's 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne),
based at Ft. Bragg, N.C. The unit is operating in southern Afghanistan, where a
U.S.-led coalition is battling a growing insurgency.<BR><BR>Some of the computer
files are dated as recently as this month, while others date to 2004. The clerk
who sold the computer drive said an Afghan worker smuggled it out of the Bagram
base Tuesday, a day after The Times first reported that military secrets were
available at several stalls at the bazaar.<BR><BR>The 1-gigabyte flash drive
sold at the bazaar Wednesday is almost full and contains personal snapshots,
Special Forces training manuals, records of "direct action" training missions in
South America, along with numerous computer slide presentations and documents
marked "secret." <BR><BR>There is also a detailed "Site Security Survey"
describing the layout of the Special Forces unit's "Low Visibility Operating
Base" in southwestern Afghanistan. Another document outlines procedures for
defending the base if it comes under attack, and there are several photographs
of the walls and areas inside the perimeter.<BR><BR>The drive holds detailed
information on a handful of Afghan informants identified by name and the number
of contacts with U.S. handlers. In some cases, photographs of the sources are
attached. <BR><BR>A report on a spy involved with a code-named operation says
the Afghan has been used in "cross border operations." But it cautions that an
American officer "has come to the conclusion that Contact may or may not be as
security conscious as thought to be or expected."<BR><BR>The report describes a
potential "low-level source" who reportedly has "brought in active and inactive
Taliban and Al Qaeda associates/operators who have expressed a desire to
repatriate/end conflict peacefully."<BR><BR>The man is identified as a former
ISI agent in the 1980s, during the U.S.-backed mujahedin war against Soviet
troops in Afghanistan. He also provided a document on Al Qaeda's cell structure
to the CIA, the report adds. <BR><BR>The document also names the man's wife and
children and lists his cellphone number.<BR><BR>It describes the informant as
very punctual, with a good sense of humor. Politically, it adds, he is "much
like a Republican in the United States." <BR><BR>The computer files also provide
a rare look at how the U.S. military contracts and pays its Afghan spies, and
the commitments they make in signed contracts, written in English.<BR><BR>In a
two-page "Record of Oral Commitment," marked "secret" and dated Jan. 28, 2005, a
source agreed to work for the U.S. Army by providing information on Al Qaeda,
the Taliban and an allied militia, the Hizb-i-Islami, led by fugitive warlord
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.<BR><BR>"The source will be paid $15 USD for each mission he
completes that has verified information," the agreement stipulates. "This sum
will not exceed a total of $300 USD in a 1-month period," the report says. The
sum rises to $500 a month for information "deemed of very high
importance."<BR><BR>And there are serious consequences for any breaches of the
commitment, such as failing to disclose information on the terrorist
organizations or missing either of two meetings scheduled for each
month.<BR><BR>The penalty for "using his new skills to participate in activities
that are deemed" anti-U.S. or against the Afghan government is "termination with
prejudice," according to the document.<BR><BR>Another document describes how an
Afghan informant for the U.S. military said he was contacted by an official from
Pakistan's Embassy, who asked the Afghan to spy for the ISI.<BR><BR>A high-level
ISI official then offered the Afghan $500 a month and other incentives, the
document says.<BR><BR>The report adds that the ISI official "said that he's
looking for an U.S. Embassy employee to aid in the bombing of the embassy that
[he] is planning." The ISI official promised he would pay the Afghan $100,000
after the destruction of the embassy in Kabul.<BR><BR>The report concludes:
"Everything that [Pakistani] told the Source could be made up or inflated as to
look good and exciting to the Source; a possible ploy to get the Source to 'sign
up' for the ISI
. However, my 'gut' tells me otherwise, and this guy really is
trying to recruit my source for the other side." <BR><BR>*<BR><BR></DIV>
<DIV>
<HR width="20%">
</DIV>
<DIV><I>Special correspondent Wesal Zaman in Kabul contributed to this
report.</I></DIV></FONT>
<DIV></DIV></BODY></HTML>