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<DIV class=body><I>From the Los Angeles Times</I></DIV>
<H1>Leaks of Military Files Resume</H1>
<DIV class=storysubhead><STRONG><FONT color=#ff0000 size=5>Despite security
efforts, flash drives stolen from U.S. base in Afghanistan are still sold at
bazaar.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>By Paul Watson<BR>Times Staff Writer<BR><BR>April
25, 2006<BR><BR>BAGRAM, Afghanistan — Just ays after U.S. troops were ordered to
plug a security breach at their base here, the black market trade in computer
memory drives containing military documents was thriving again Monday.
<BR><BR>Documents on flash drives for sale at a bazaar across from the American
military base over the weekend contained U.S. officers' names and cellphone
numbers and instructions on using pain to control prisoners who put up
resistance. A study guide on one of the drives describes tactics for
interrogating and controlling detainees by pinching or striking nerve and
pressure points on their face, neck, arms and legs. <BR><BR>Traders at the
bazaar near Bagram's main gate were openly displaying pilfered U.S. military
memory drives in their shops Monday, two weeks after the Los Angeles Times
reported on the black market in computer equipment, some of which contained
American military documents marked "Secret." <BR><BR>U.S. soldiers spent
thousands of dollars later that week buying scores of flash memory drives from
the bazaar. The soldiers walked through the black market with a box of money,
purchasing all the computer equipment they could find.<BR><BR>For several days
afterward, no more memory drives were available. <BR><BR>But an 18-year-old
Afghan man who works on the base said that by Friday, memory drives were being
smuggled off the base again. The devices are smaller than disposable lighters.
<BR><BR>Several shopkeepers have said in recent days that they are eager for the
military to return to the market so they can sell their new stock for premium
prices.<BR><BR>Some of the memory drives for sale earlier this month listed the
names, addresses and photographs of Afghan spies providing information to U.S.
Special Forces. Others that were also marked "Secret" included American military
officials' view that the Taliban and their allies were using bases in Pakistan
to launch attacks in Afghanistan. One had maps dated Dec. 1, 2001, the day after
U.S. and Afghan militia forces began their offensive at Tora Bora, that
described possible escape routes of Osama bin Laden. The routes in the maps
start not at Tora Bora, where many had thought Bin Laden was at the time, but in
the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar. <BR><BR>Some of the drives
contained sensitive documents that had been deleted but could be retrieved with
software available on the Internet.<BR><BR>Files on some of the drives for sale
at the bazaar Sunday had been deleted too. It was not known if any of those
drives contained classified information.<BR><BR>Lt. Mike Cody, a spokesman for
the U.S. military here, did not respond Monday to a request for comment on the
renewed sales of flash drives. <BR><BR>At the Pentagon, Air Force Lt. Col. Todd
Vician said Monday that U.S. forces in Afghanistan were continuing to
investigate the theft of the equipment and how to prevent further security
breaches at Bagram.<BR><BR>"It is important for the investigation to continue,
to determine what the problem is," Vician said. "The command in Afghanistan is
taking this very seriously. We are treating this as seriously as any release of
classified, sensitive information." <BR><BR>On April 13, the Army launched a
criminal investigation and Lt. Gen. Karl W. Eikenberry, overall commander of
U.S. forces in Afghanistan, ordered a review of policies and procedures
concerning the way computer hardware and software are accounted for.<BR><BR>At
the bazaar, the Bagram worker said guards carefully searched people leaving the
base until Wednesday, less than a week after U.S. soldiers bought up the
military computer equipment from the marketplace. <BR><BR>The teen, who
described his job as collecting U.S. soldiers' laundry, said he had smuggled out
four flash memory drives to a local shopkeeper after shift change Sunday
afternoon. <BR><BR>"They were checking us with metal detectors and they were
checking every part of our body," he said.<BR><BR>"Still the checking is a
little serious, but not as much as it was for the last four or five days. I
tried to bring a box of playing cards out but it was really difficult and they
said it was not allowed."<STRONG><BR><BR></STRONG>Several more U.S. military
drives were on sale at other shops in the bazaar Monday. One shopkeeper said he
had been selling pilfered American military flash drives for four years, mostly
to young Afghan computer users looking for cheap equipment, but also to some
foreigners.<STRONG><BR><BR></STRONG>"I may have sold thousands of these flashes
since I have come and opened this shop," the shopkeeper said. He asked not to be
named because he feared retribution.<BR><BR>A drive for sale Sunday contained
numerous U.S. military documents, such as one that listed at least 21 names and
cellphone numbers of officers, including the colonel in charge, of a
communications unit identified as "CJ6."<BR><BR>On another drive, in a folder
titled "Police Study Guides," a document described methods of controlling
suspects, such as techniques that "utilize reasonable tactics that do not
increase the risk of injury beyond an acceptable level."<BR><BR>Called Pressure
Point Control Tactics, they are ones that appear to be taught at many U.S.
police academies. It is unclear from the documents on the drive whether they are
approved for use by the U.S. military at its main Afghan base in Bagram, which
includes a detention center for Al Qaeda and other terror suspects flown in from
around the world for interrogation.<BR><BR>The control tactics' five principles
include "pain compliance — the use of stimulus pain to control resistance
behavior; mental stunning techniques — stimulation of overwhelming sensory input
that is sudden, intense and unexpected" and "motor dysfunction — a controlled
striking technique which overstimulates motor nerves, resulting in a temporary
impairment," the document says. <BR><BR>Internet pages were copied to the same
drive, including news reports on a February prison riot at Pul-i-Charki prison,
near Kabul, the Afghan capital, that left at least seven inmates dead.
<BR><BR>Other Web pages on the drive explained how to buy anabolic steroids,
such as Liquid Anodrol, to quickly build up muscles. "The Ultimate Stack for
Hard-Core Bodybuilding Warriors Who'll Use 'Any Means Necessary' to Pack Up to
25 Pounds of Raw Brutal Muscle in Just 8 Weeks!" declares one of the Web
pages.<BR><BR>The Uniform Code of Military Justice, the U.S. military's criminal
law, prohibits service members from using steroids unless they are prescribed
for medical reasons.<BR><BR>Afghan shopkeepers selling the military flash drives
say they don't know what is on them and are offering them only as used
equipment. The trader who first put them on his shelves four years ago said that
back then he thought the drives' colors, rather than their capacity or content,
mattered most. He sold blue ones for the highest price: around $4.<BR><BR>Two
weeks ago, the smallest 250-kilobyte drives sold for $20 each. Prices have more
than doubled since U.S. soldiers walked through the bazaar.<BR><BR>"Nobody
investigated the shopkeepers," the trader said. "They just came and bought as
much as they could. The Americans were buying the disks with documents on them
for a higher price. Even now if Americans come I will sell one [drive] to them
for $200."<BR><BR>Shopkeepers say the soldiers who visited the bazaar April 14
seemed especially interested in laptops, so black marketeers are keeping their
eyes peeled for what they think is sensitive information that will make them
rich.<BR><BR>"An American gave me his phone number and said, 'If you find a
computer which is from the base, just give me a call,' " said one.<BR><BR>Even
if security is tightened again, smugglers will find another way to get flash
drives off the base, the shopkeeper predicted. <BR><BR>"If the Americans look
under our hats, we will hide things in our shoes, and if they look in our shoes,
we will hide them under our hats," he said. <BR><BR>"We are poor people, we have
to make money."</DIV></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>