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United States government security breaches

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This page is a timeline of published security lapses in the United States government. These lapses are frequently referenced in congressional and non-governmental oversight. This article does not attempt to capture security vulnerabilities.

Timeline

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1940s

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The 33 convicted members of the Duquesne spy ring (FBI print)

1950s

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1970s

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  • January 1977 – Christopher John Boyce (born February 16, 1953) was convicted of spying against the United States for the Soviet Union. He was arrested in January 1977 for selling U.S. spy satellite secrets to the Soviet Union. Boyce was convicted in April of espionage and sentenced to 40 years in prison at the Federal Correctional Institution, Lompoc. On January 21, 1980, Boyce escaped from Lompoc. While a fugitive, Boyce carried out 17 bank robberies in Idaho and Washington. Boyce did not believe he could live as a fugitive forever and began to study aviation in an attempt to flee to the Soviet Union, where he would accept a commission as an officer in the Soviet Armed Forces. On August 28, 1981, Boyce was arrested while eating in his car outside "The Pit Stop," a drive-in restaurant in Port Angeles, Washington.

1980s

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1990s

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2000s

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  • April 2003 – A security officer at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory lost an electronic access badge. The loss was reported to an immediate supervisor, but senior Livermore managers were not notified until late May, at which point the badge was deactivated.[6]
  • December 2006 – Petty Officer Ariel Weinmann of the United States Navy pleaded guilty to espionage, desertion and other charges. His case is notable as an espionage case where the Navy and trial court officials have denied access to basic information, including the court docket.
  • February 2007 – The Department of Justice Inspector General reported that "over a 44-month period the FBI reported 160 weapons and 160 laptop computers as lost or stolen."[4]

2010s

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  • May 10, 2017 – Trump discussed classified information during an Oval Office meeting on May 10, 2017, with the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and the Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. The information was provided by a U.S. ally and concerned a planned Islamic State (ISIL) operation, providing sufficient detail that the Russians could use to deduce the identity of the ally and the manner in which it was collected, according to current and former government officials.[14][15][16][17][18]
  • May 24, 2017 – Britain strongly objected to the United States leaking to the press information about the Manchester Arena bombing, including the identity of the attacker and a picture of the bomb, before it had been publicly disclosed, jeopardizing the investigation.[19] British Prime Minister Theresa May issued a public rebuke, and British police said they would stop passing information to U.S. counterparts.[20]
  • July 2017 – After a private meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the 2017 G20 Hamburg summit, Trump took the unusual step of confiscating and keeping his interpreter's notes. This led U.S. intelligence officials to express concern that Trump "may have improperly discussed classified intelligence with Russia."[21]
  • Christmas 2018 – Trump and First Lady Melania Trump flew to Al Asad Airbase where Trump posted video to Twitter of several members of Seal Team Five in their camouflage and night-vision goggles, revealing the team's location and unblurred faces.[22][23]
  • August 30, 2019 – Trump tweeted a reportedly classified image of recent damage to Iran's Imam Khomeini Spaceport that supposedly occurred as a result of an explosion during testing of a Safir SLV. Multiple concerns were raised regarding the public release of what appeared to be a surveillance photo with exceptionally high resolution, revealing highly classified U.S. surveillance capabilities.[24] Within hours of the tweet, amateur satellite trackers had determined the photograph came from National Reconnaissance Office spy satellite USA-224.[25] Before Trump's tweet, the only confirmed photographs from a KH-11 satellite were leaked in 1984 by a U.S. Navy analyst who went to prison for espionage.[25] Trump defended the tweet by saying he had "the absolute right" to release the photo.[26]
  • December 2019 – In an interview with Bob Woodward, Trump stated, "I have built a nuclear — a weapons system that nobody's ever had in this country before," adding, "We have stuff that Putin and Xi have never heard about before. There's nobody. What we have is incredible."[27]

2020s

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References

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  1. ^ "The John Walker Spy Ring and The U.S. Navy's Biggest Betrayal – USNI News". USNI News. 2014-09-02. Retrieved 2017-03-24.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Defense Personnel Security Research Center, Espionage Cases 1975–2004, archived from the original on February 4, 2006, retrieved 2006-02-19
  3. ^ L. Britt Snider; Daniel S. Seikaly (2000-02-18), Improper Handling of Classified Information by John M. Deutch, Central Intelligence Agency Inspector General
  4. ^ a b U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General Audit Division (February 2007), The Federal Bureau of Investigation's Control Over Weapons and Laptop Computers Follow-up Audit (PDF)
  5. ^ "Man Pleads Guilty to Sandia National Labs Breach", SANS Newsbites, 5 (11), The SANS Institute, 2003-03-14
  6. ^ a b "DOE REVIEWS LIVERMORE LAB: SECURITY UNACCEPTABLE", HPC Wire, 12 (22), Tabor Communications, 2003-06-06, archived from the original on September 28, 2007
  7. ^ Sandia Corporation (2004-07-16), Sandia Labs locates floppy disk
  8. ^ U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Inspector General, Office of Audit Services (2006-11-27), Selected Controls over Classified Information at Los Alamos National Laboratory (PDF){{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  9. ^ Barrett, Devlin (5 June 2015). "U.S. Suspects Hackers in China Breached About four (4) Million People's Records, Officials Say". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
  10. ^ Zengerle, Patricia; Cassella, Megan (2015-07-09). "Estimate of Americans hit by government personnel data hack skyrockets". Reuters. Retrieved 2015-07-09.
  11. ^ Nakashima, Ellen (9 July 2015). "Hacks of OPM databases compromised 22.1 million people, federal authorities say". The Washington Post. Retrieved 19 July 2020.
  12. ^ "Trump tells Duterte of two U.S. nuclear subs in Korean waters: NYT". Reuters. May 24, 2017. Archived from the original on August 17, 2018. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  13. ^ Lockie, Alex (May 24, 2018). "Trump told Philippines' Duterte the US Navy had 2 'nuclear submarines' near North Korea". Business Insider. Archived from the original on August 17, 2018. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  14. ^ Rosenberg, Matthew; Schmitt, Eric (May 15, 2017). "Trump Revealed Highly Classified Intelligence to Russia, in Break With Ally, Officials Say". The New York Times. p. A1. Archived from the original on May 15, 2017. Retrieved May 15, 2017.
  15. ^ Miller, Greg; Jaffe, Greg. "Trump revealed highly classified information to Russian foreign minister and ambassador". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on May 15, 2017. Retrieved May 15, 2017.
  16. ^ Mason, Jeff; Zengerle, Patricia (May 16, 2017). "Trump revealed intelligence secrets to Russians in Oval Office: officials". Reuters. Archived from the original on June 28, 2017. Retrieved July 2, 2017.
  17. ^ Lee, Carol E.; Harris, Shane (May 16, 2017). "Trump Shared Intelligence Secrets With Russians in Oval Office Meeting". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on May 17, 2017. Retrieved May 16, 2017.
  18. ^ Merica, Dan; Jake Tapper; Jim Sciutto (May 16, 2017). "Sources: Trump shared classified info with Russians". CNN. Archived from the original on May 15, 2017. Retrieved May 16, 2017.
  19. ^ "Pictures leaked 'after being shared with US intelligence' show bomb used in Manchester attack". The Daily Telegraph. May 24, 2017. Archived from the original on July 24, 2018. Retrieved July 29, 2018.
  20. ^ Johnson, Tim (May 26, 2017). "Trump's loose lips drive allies to reassess U.S. access to intel". McClatchy. Archived from the original on August 17, 2018. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  21. ^ Sciutto, Jim Sciutto (September 9, 2019). "Exclusive: US extracted top spy from inside Russia in 2017". CNN. Archived from the original on March 12, 2020. Retrieved September 11, 2019.
  22. ^ Bacon, John (December 27, 2018). "Trump video from Iraq reveals Navy SEAL team deployment". USA Today. Archived from the original on February 29, 2020. Retrieved September 12, 2020.
  23. ^ Romero, Dennis (December 28, 2018). "Trump's reveal of SEAL team in Iraq could endanger its members". NBC News. Archived from the original on September 4, 2020. Retrieved September 12, 2020.
  24. ^ Brumfiel, Geoff (Aug 30, 2019). "Trump tweets sensitive surveillance image of Iran". NPR. Archived from the original on May 1, 2020. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
  25. ^ a b Oberhaus, Daniel (September 3, 2019). "Trump Tweeted a Sensitive Photo. Internet Sleuths Decoded It". Wired.com. Archived from the original on June 5, 2020. Retrieved July 6, 2020.
  26. ^ Sanger, David E.; Broad, William J. (August 30, 2019). "In a Tweet Taunting Iran, Trump Releases an Image Thought to Be Classified". The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 18, 2020. Retrieved July 6, 2020. We had a photo and I released it, which I have the absolute right to do.
  27. ^ Liptak, Kevin; Salama, Vivian; Fox, Lauren; Starr, Barbara (September 11, 2020). "Trump's need to gossip about nukes provokes anxiety". CNN. Retrieved August 26, 2022.
  28. ^ "Inside the 20-Month Fight to Get Trump to Return Classified Material", The New York Times, by Luke Broadwater, Katie Benner and Maggie Haberman, August 26, 2022.