August 14, 2002

OK, yes, I am stationed at the U.S. Central command; but I don't know anything more about the missing (now found) laptops than you do. It is one thing to have a security clearance, it is another to have "need to know." Here is the main theme of the story if you missed it.

Confession' Cracks Laptop Case
Published on August 10, 2002
AUTHORITIES: ENLISTED MAN DETAINED, NOT YET CHARGED
MacDILL AIR FORCE BASE - The case of the two missing laptop computers that has had Gen. Tommy Franks' headquarters in an uproar for the past week has finally broken open with what investigators describe as a "confession."
An enlisted man with clearance to the supposedly ultra-secure room in which the laptops were kept apparently walked off with them - but why, how and exactly when remains a mystery.

Well anyway, there was a line toward the end of the article above where a retired Army Colonel said "Everyone breaks the rules once in awhile, but you have to be prepared to reckon with the cicumstances if it's discovered..." I reckoned, to borrow a redneck phrase, I needed to disagree. I wrote a letter to the editor because I didn't have the Colonel's address. My letter was published, and I felt better. Here it is.

Offensive Remark - Published Aug 13, 2002 in the Tampa Tribune