WASHINGTON — A major federal investigation has found that dozens of military officials and defense contractors, including some with toplevel security clearances, purportedly bought and downloaded child pornography, in some cases on government computers.
The Pentagon on Friday released 94 pages of reports of an investigation spanning several years that implicated individuals working with agencies that handle some of the nation’s most closely guarded secrets, including the National Reconnaissance Office and National Security Agency.
Defense workers who purchased child porn put the Department of Defense, “the military and national security at risk by compromising computer systems, military installations and security clearances,” a 2007 investigative report said. The suspects also put the Defense Department “at risk of blackmail, bribery, and threats,” the report added.
The Boston Globe first reported the results of the investigation Friday after obtainingthe documents through the Freedom of Information Act. The Defense Department in turn released the reports, which are heavily redacted, with most names and details about each case omitted.
Some of the individuals have been prosecuted, while other cases remain in limbo or charges were dropped, with prosecutors lacking sufficient evidence.
Because many important details are blacked out in the documents, it is impossible to determine how many individuals with ties to the Pentagon were either charged or suspected of receiving child pornography.
The federal inquiry into military workers is part of a broader effort initiated in 2007 under the code name Operation Flicker. That project had identified more than 5,000 individuals who subscribed to child-pornography websites.
Front Section, Pages 5 on 07/24/2010