The Secret Service Has Lost 1,024 Computers Since 2001

Megalith

Megalith

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A FOIA request has revealed everything that the Secret Service has lost since 2001, and that includes IT equipment such as desktops and servers—wait, how do you lose a server?

Since 2001, the agency has lost at least 1,024 computers, 736 mobile phones, and 121 guns. Judicial Watch obtained the numbers through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed in January. The Secret Service released the numbers this week, which is broken down into different categories of lost and stolen equipment. Of the 1,024 total computers lost or stolen, the Secret Service has misplaced 744 laptops, 258 desktops, and 22 tablets.
 
monkey-thief-0.jpg
 
I can kind of see laptops and tablets. Shit happens (although those numbers are high). But how the fuck do you lose a desktop or a server?
 
For 15 years those numbers aren't that high.

At one of my last jobs, which I only had for a little over a year, shit would 'walk out' the building regularly. We had almost no inventory check-in/out procedure so it was easy for this kind of stuff to happen. As far as the servers going missing, they were likely decommed servers that were put into inventory then magically disappeared likey due to poor procedure as mentioned.

The larger WTF is how they lost 6 vehicles...
 
The important thing is if they were prepared properly before being lost. A secure password and a program set up to wipe the hard drive if the wrong password was entered 3 times should do it. Like what was mentioned before, old equipment that was scrapped or taken home by employees might make up a large part of these if they were not properly removed from inventory.
 
I find it more worrisome that 121 weapons can go missing. Wonder how many of these were fully automatic? Wonder what the loss rate is for the entire government? Is it possible that the largest supplier of illegal weapons to criminals in the US is the US government? Don't forget the over 1000 weapons the ATF and company lost track of during Fast and Furious and its pilot program. Wonder if anyone has been reprimanded for losing these weapons? Probably not.

As for the computers, wonder how much info on citizens was released into the wild for use by unknown parties?
 
Megalith said:
—wait, how do you lose a server?
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Judging by the yearly breakout in the article, hardware "misplaced" during major buildouts/transitions.
"Uh-oh, seems someone lost a few servers in shipping. We certainly didn't accidentally drop a server rack down an elevator shaft or anything..."
EODetroit said:
How do you only lose 22 tablets if you lost so many of the other things?
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By only having 22 tablets?

Everyone's got a work-provided cellphone. Only those who think they're more important than they actually are have a work-provided tablet.
Sonicks said:
The larger WTF is how they lost 6 vehicles...
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"I know I parked that limo somewhere around..."
Dead Parrot said:
I find it more worrisome that 121 weapons can go missing.
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A handful in any given year is expected, given that people are stupid. The thirteen in 2008 is unsuprising, given personnel turnover in a presidential transition year. But, WTF happened with the 69 in 2002? Something interesting clearly happened there.
 
How do you a lose a server? Let me tell you a story. I did work as a consultant back in the late 90's. The client wanted an Essbase server put it and an application built that eventually would get rid of 13 jobs in accounting. I built the application and the server was installed and everything was running fine for 9 months. Then I get a call. Users can't access the application on the server. I go in and try to access the application and sure enough, can't get in. I travel to corporate where the server is located in their data center. Talked to the guy that helped me install the server and we went to the location of the server. Nothing. The box is gone. Fast forward a year and I hear through the consulting grapevine about a firm who went into this client (hired by accounting) to get rid of the server. LOL.
 
Honestly, I'm amazed at the relatively low tablet loss. As for your servers, I've got a Skull Canyon NUC that I'm thinking about trying out as an ESXi server for the house, maybe they are doing something like that? It's about the size of a notepad...
 
amddragonpc said:
How do you a lose a server? Let me tell you a story. I did work as a consultant back in the late 90's. The client wanted an Essbase server put it and an application built that eventually would get rid of 13 jobs in accounting. I built the application and the server was installed and everything was running fine for 9 months. Then I get a call. Users can't access the application on the server. I go in and try to access the application and sure enough, can't get in. I travel to corporate where the server is located in their data center. Talked to the guy that helped me install the server and we went to the location of the server. Nothing. The box is gone. Fast forward a year and I hear through the consulting grapevine about a firm who went into this client (hired by accounting) to get rid of the server. LOL.
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What incompetent dick heads. Take it as a hint that you're in a dead end career field and get busy retraining. Fully backs my primary issue with anyone in accounting or HR though, they took that job because they weren't qualified to do anything else.
 
XenIneX said:
Judging by the yearly breakout in the article, hardware "misplaced" during major buildouts/transitions.
"Uh-oh, seems someone lost a few servers in shipping. We certainly didn't accidentally drop a server rack down an elevator shaft or anything..."

By only having 22 tablets?

Everyone's got a work-provided cellphone. Only those who think they're more important than they actually are have a work-provided tablet.

"I know I parked that limo somewhere around..."

A handful in any given year is expected, given that people are stupid. The thirteen in 2008 is unsuprising, given personnel turnover in a presidential transition year. But, WTF happened with the 69 in 2002? Something interesting clearly happened there.
Click to expand...

They needed ghost guns for sanctioned assassinations?
 
Also have to wonder how many of these are accounting errors. I ordered some stuff for testing once, it went into company inventory. After I decided I didn't want to use that for customer deployment I told the people in charge of inventory to remove the units and I threw them away. 5 years later they were asking me where the units were as they still have down that they were all assigned to me and they wanted to verify that I still had possession of them. I informed them again that I asked them to remove them from inventory as I wasn't going to assign them to any customers. A year later get the same call asking me about these units that are in inventory as assigned to me for testing. Pointed out yet again that I threw them away years ago. Inventory review is just around the corner, so I expect to get a call in 2 months asking me where these 10 DSL modems are at yet again.

I could see similar things happening here. They move offices or buildings and just buy everyone new computers and put in new servers to get everything ready people the people move in, all the old stuff is supposed to be decommissioned and taken off the books but that part doesn't get done.

Then again I could see them accidently sealing them inside of a wall and losing them that way.

Heard a story about a company that during an audit of bills for all their locations found that they were paying for multiple T1s into a building still. Company was large and HQ had no idea what each location actually had or used so was just paying the bills they got. They contacted the carrier about the T1s which they thought were long dead since they weren't using them. Carrier informed them at they were still active. After finding the person who had installed them decades before went to check out the equipment and to their confusion couldn't find it. They found that the location had did some renovations at some point and after working out a map of the basement found there was something off as the rooms around where the equipment was at didn't actually use all the space, meaning there was dead space between the walls. They then figured out that the telco equipment for the T1s and all the lines coming in actually got walled off was now in a secret room between the actual rooms there. I guess somebody put up the dry wall around the place and somebody else was supposed to come through and cut out the doorway. Got over looked and so you had a hidden room full of equipment running for about 10 years.
 
They reallllly need to go back to fighting corruption and put the marines back on guarding the potus. Though that would mean no more meat shields... that snipers ignore anyway... terrorist are going to shoot a random target anyway. But really the purpose of the secret service was to pose as mail clerks and telegraph operators and low level flunkies to their home communities and then go to work tracking down counterfeiters and griefers of all kinds of people engineering scams both the grifters and the ones planning it. Trump might have them igore the casinos... but a would put a squad of marines as far better at making sure someone does not get shot than flunkies that train to stand around as target practice... people make better thinkers than targets.

Oh in case that is why marines... all US Embasy Guards are marines so they will have enough flash and fruit salad. Once the unified service is finished they will simply likely just be called the presidential detail again.
 
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