Two laptop computers missing from a secure
room at Central Command for more than a week
were recovered from a residence Friday and a
military man who admitting to taking them has
been arrested, Air Force investigators said in
Tampa. According to Maj. Mike Richmond of the
Air Force's Office of Special Investigations,
investigators were working their way through a
list of people who had access to the secure
room that contained the laptops when the man,
whom officials would not identify, admitting
to taking the laptops. "Over the course of the
conversation with this person, there was a
confession and the confession led to the
location (of the laptops),'' Richmond said.
Officials do not believe the theft was an act
of espionage and believe they have a motive,
but would not reveal it. The laptops do not
appear to have contained sensitive war
information on possible attacks against Iraq,
which some had suspected were the source of
leaks to the New York Times, Richmond said.
"Information that our investigators got does
not indicate any link to a leak nor does it
indicate it was done for any purpose of
espionage,'' he said.
