Pentagon Reverses Order to Destroy Old Hard Drives

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Pentagon Reverses Order to Destroy Old Hard Drives June 8, 2001 10:31 am EST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Defense Department no longer has to destroy hard drives of all old unclassified computers going to the public, in a reversal of a six-month-old policy installed during a heightened focus on security, the Pentagon said on Thursday.

Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz rescinded the January policy with the goal of making more computers available for schools and other non-profit organizations.

The Pentagon will have to overwrite the hard drives of computers being donated or going to the public, which it had done for years before the January edict.

Overwriting a hard drive makes it more difficult to reconstruct the information than just erasing it, a Pentagon spokesman said.

Computer hard drives with classified information still must be destroyed, the Pentagon said.

In fiscal 2000, the Defense Department donated more than 74,000 pieces of computer equipment to schools, it said.

The short-lived policy of destroying hard drives on unclassified computers came during a time of sharp focus on security after several high-profile cases.

In one case former CIA Director John Deutch, who was also a former deputy defense secretary, was found to have put classified information on unclassified home computers.

Deutch apologized for his actions and former President Bill Clinton pardoned him of any wrongdoing in computer lapses before leaving office.

Government investigations have found no evidence that any of the classified information on Deutch's computers was compromised.

-- Anonymous, June 09, 2001


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