NEW MEXICO LOS ALAMOS COMPUTER LAPTOP DRAWS PROBE lamonitor.com: The Online News Source for Los AlamosExpert hired to probe loss of county's laptop computer

ALLISON MAJURE, lareporter@lamonitor.com, Monitor Staff Writer

Los Alamos County officials contracted Monday with Herb Pitts, former Deputy Chief Information Officer at Sandia National Laboratory, to investigate the policy, leadership, or operational lapse that resulted in the theft of a laptop containing sensitive employee data on each of the town's 600 employees and the seven county councilors.

The laptop computer had not been assigned to an individual, but to the Human Resources group, for rotational use. When not in use, the laptop remained in a locked file cabinet, said county spokesperson Julie Habiger on Thursday.

Although the computer was found missing some weeks ago, it took until June 2 for the county staff to inventory all equipment and determine that the laptop was indeed unaccounted for.

County Administrator Donna Dreska said in an interview Monday, "There is no way this information should have been downloaded. It should never have been downloaded ... If we needed this type of information (for a software training purpose) we should have used made-up information."

Dreska who had just returned Monday from a business trip to Washington DC, said, "I can't tell you what policy was broken yet, until our internal review is completed....But of course, we are going to do everything in our power to see that something like this never occurs again."

Pitts, will report directly to Dreska and Deputy County Administrator Max Baker.

He will conduct a review of the county's actions, procedures, and policies relating to computer security, assess the County's response to this isolated incident, and make recommendations that will reduce the likelihood of such incidents in the future, according to information provided by Habiger.

County CIO Jim Hall is working with the Monitor on specific answers to policy lapse questions asked Monday, but still under review. He said, "All the press interaction on this matter is going through our public information office, to help coordinate what we can say in light of our employees...and in light of the police investigation, our internal investigation, etc. We have answered some and are working on others."

The county held a series of meetings with staff on Thursday and Friday, informing them all of the loss of their personal data and suggesting protective measures. All staff have been instructed not to speak with the press, to protect the integrity of the police investigation underway. Los Alamos Police Captain Marla Brooks leads that investigation.

Although in possession of further and exact details concerning the alleged theft of the laptop, County Habiger refrained from sharing the data to protect the integrity of the investigation being quarterbacked by Brooks of the LAPD. It is likely, however, that social security numbers were within the "sensitive employee data and personal information" referred to in the county press release on the subject.