Anchor Marco Werman speaks with Shahan Mufti, a correspondent for Globalpost.com, who was able to buy a US military laptop in a market in Peshawar, Pakistan. He says the laptop appears to have been stolen from US military personnel in Afghanistan.
This text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI's THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI's THE WORLD is the program audio.
MARCO WERMAN: President Obama wants to refocus America's military mission in Afghanistan. That could mean sending more US troops there. The Pentagon is already sending lots of extra weapons into the country. They're supposed to go to Afghan government forces, but this week a report in Washington said the Pentagon is unable to account for tens of thousands of these weapons. The report warned that the weapons could end up in the wrong hands. Shahan Mufti is a correspondent for Globalpost.com. He's written a piece about another kind of military hardware – a laptop – that fell into the wrong hands: his. Mufti joins us from Islamabad in Pakistan. So I should clarify, Mufti, you're not the enemy but you did end up purchasing a used US military laptop for $650 on the open market in Peshawar last week, not far from the Afghan border. How did you do it?
SHAHAN MUFTI: I was reporting a story and following a story on the NATO supply routes that have been looted in the last couple of months pretty regularly, supply routes that run through Pakistan into Afghanistan. And it was during the course of this that I found, through transporters and truck owners that there was a market that was on the border of Peshawar, the biggest city – the capital of the northwest frontier, and it's bordered with the tribal areas. And they told me that you can get a lot of the stuff that's looted off of these trucks, supply trucks, in this market and sold out there. So that's why I went out there, just to have a look. I was expecting the usual military gear, camouflage uniform, but I wasn't expecting anything like this.
WERMAN: And what was on the computer?
MUFTI: The computer – well, I saw it first and it was pretty obviously a military computer. So I had a few minutes to play with it there on the counter, and I could tell that it had manuals – a lot of manuals that were actually – some of them were sitting on the desktop. And these were manuals for military equipment, vehicles. The laptop also contained government and military software, which gives the user access to logistical information, and information on military, marine, navy and army databases, as well as federal government information. There was also – I found out later there was also email communication on this computer, which included hundreds of email addresses for military personnel – US military personnel.
WERMAN: During World War Two, a huge premium was placed on classified information. And if it slipped into enemy hands, that would've been unthinkable and practically treason, even if it was accidental. What's changed? Has the military mindset and culture changed or is it the kind of porous nature of this technology?
MUFTI: That's a good question. Well, I should make clear that this laptop as far as I could tell did not contain any classified – there's levels of secrecy in the military. But that is a good question, and I think part of this is the nature of how information is traveling now. This is not coded. This computer – this laptop had a hard drive, and somehow this laptop made it's way off the US military base or in Afghanistan and was brought into the open market. And a lot of military experts did say that this information being available in Pakistan could translate into a whole new level of problems for the military.
WERMAN: And when you spoke with the US military, did they seem at all concerned that perhaps eventually classified information would get into the wrong hands in that part of the world?
MUFTI: My conversations with the military were not on the record, so I cannot discuss those. But there is a recognition – I will say this. I think there is a recognition in the military that information will seep out. But really at the root of this is the porous nature of that border. This is not something that could have been slipped under a sweater. This came in a very large fiberglass case. So obviously, there's a problem here and how it's going to be tackled I think is a big question.
WERMAN: Porous borders and porous technology – not a great combination. Shahan Mufti is a correspondent for theglobalpost.com. We have a link to his article and slideshow at theworld.org. Shahan, thank you very much.
transcript