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    FBI says compulsive “hoarder” stole thousands of classified documents

    A NGA satellite photo of Islamabad, Pakistan (af.mil)The FBI is investigating a government employee with top-security clearance whom they say stole thousands of classified documents. Even more interesting, the compulsion to steal the classified material is being attributed to a "hoarding" condition, rather than any threat of high-risk espionage.

    The Smoking Gun reports that when government employee Robert Harwin was arrested last month, he described himself as a "hoarder" to authorities. Compulsive hoarding, the "excessive acquisition and inability or unwillingness to discard large quantities of objects that would seemingly qualify as useless or without value," has been popularized on the TLC reality show, "Hoarding."

    FBI agents searched the man's home and found a "large cache" of classified documents and computer disks. At the time of his arrest, Harwin was working as an analyst with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), the agency responsible for creating high-tech, top-secret maps and interpreting data collected by unmanned drones. The NGA is said to have played a significant role in the capture of Osama bin Laden.

    In an affidavit sworn by FBI counterintelligence agent Thomas Shea, the agent said, "I know that Hoarding is the excessive collection of particular items, along with the inability to discard items."

    One of Harwin's co-workers told the FBI they had seen him leaving the NGA facilities "carrying a heavy plastic bag," on "three to four different occasions." While another employee said Harwin confessed he had "accidentally taken classified documents" home with him multiple times, "but always brought the documents back the next day."

    You can read more about how the FBI closed in on Harwin and his subsequent arrest here.

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    • Domingo  •  3 mths ago
      Oh, what great security in an agency that obviously deals in top secret stuff! Our government at work - not!, once again.
    • Gotcha!  •  3 mths ago
      This is almost as stupid as our idiot "leaders" further up the ladder announcing our withdrawal plans to the enemy, isn't it ? Apparently being brain damaged is a requirement to work for the government.
      • FED-UP 3 mths ago
        And has been for years.
      • SB 3 mths ago
        Sad part, look who votes them into office?!
    • A Yahoo! User  •  3 mths ago
      Ew, ever watch that "hoarders" show? EW, ew, ew! Why do they always seem to be middle aged, ugly white women? I mean really. Same thing with the "intervention" show...always some spoiled brat white girl whose parents spoil her.
      (sarcasm) I'm really getting sick of white women being shown in negative light...it's racism! Makes me wanna holla!
      • r rouse 3 mths ago
        you just did.
      • luv-bug 3 mths ago
        lol... i guess they are the only ones that don't mind "LETTING IT ALL HANG OUT''...LOL
      • hangman 3 mths ago
        In the interest of equality, put on some old fat, black ugly women. We want you to be happy.
    • LittleFox  •  Yakima, Washington  •  3 mths ago
      Who watches the watchers?
      • Dave 3 mths ago
        The watcher watchers!
      • Kyle 3 mths ago
        Picard.
    • James Bond  •  3 mths ago
      The government will eventually implode under it's own stupidity given enough time and money.
      • POTUS 3 mths ago
        That has already been proven fact...
      • Paul 3 mths ago
        The problem is that there ISN'T enough of either !
      • Alana 3 mths ago
        You're so stupid you can't even observe proper grammar rules. *its
    • phillythekid  •  Dexter, New Mexico  •  3 mths ago
      ...One of Harwin's co-workers told the FBI they had seen him leaving the NGA facilities "carrying a heavy plastic bag," on "three to four different occasions."..?...so i guess after five or six they check..?..security at it's finest...!
      • Fed Up in West Texas 3 mths ago
        They should be charged with dereliction of duty.
      • waterboy 3 mths ago
        the holding facility should be in the building and a shredder before it even leaves the building, then all burned on site.
      • DeeDee 3 mths ago
        Agreed, Fed Up. Hadn't those guards ever heard of a bag inspection? Is it really that common to exit a federal building with heavy plastic bags?
    • Jeremy  •  3 mths ago
      So a guy's walking out of a top secret office with a bag full of documents over his shoulder and no even asks the guy what's in the bag????
    • VBGirl  •  3 mths ago
      Oh PLEEZE!!!!! A real hoarder doesn't KNOW they have a problem or won't admit it......they can't make decisions about what is and is not valuable......this is a guy that we are supposed to believe took important things home and then brought them back??? The next day???? A REAL hoarder would have taken this stuff home, stacked it on a cluttered table in the middle of in the basement with a ton of other things and forgotten about it.....they wouldn't have taken it home and brought it back the next day....
    • james  •  3 mths ago
      Shesh how do I get a job like this. Seems like they hire anyone these days.
    • Yahoo user  •  3 mths ago
      Maybe someone should acquaint the NGA with security surveillance cameras.
    • Tommy  •  Boston, Massachusetts  •  3 mths ago
      So these other employees working there see him taking home large trash bags of documents on 3 to 4 different occasions and don't think anything of it??? How about "Hey Billy, I think that Harwin guy might be stealing top secret documents and we should probably do something about it, you know, national security and all!" These people are idiots and should be fired but there should also be some serious training on security clearance and the duties and responsibilities that go along with it.
    • Bob_Smith145  •  Seoul, South Korea  •  3 mths ago
      What is wrong with you people? Did any of you read the article? The guy stole the docs from the NGA, not the FBI. The FBI is not in charge of security at the NGA. They only deals with federal crimes committed within the US. Why is everyone saying how stupid the FBI is for letting this guy take these docs home? The stupid people are this loons coworkers who failed to report the security compromises to the proper authorities (which is a crime in itself).
    • derek  •  3 mths ago
      Do they have no control at the NGA? I had a Top Secret clearance when I was in the military and EVERY piece of info had to be signed for before it came into my hands and at every shift change evreything was checked before the shift change. It sure sounds as if there is no control at all. If you are going to have TS material then it should be safe-guarding this material, that is the responsibility of EVERYONE!
    • TimM  •  3 mths ago
      bet bank robbers wish they could use the same excuse. no officer im not stealing the money im hoarding it
    • LLC  •  3 mths ago
      Living with a hoarder is hell... speaking from experience.
    • eddie l  •  3 mths ago
      This is great. If I get caught with stolen property in my posession I can blame it on my compulsion to hoard. Thanks A&E.
    • CheerLAXMom  •  3 mths ago
      I don't know if he is a true hoarder -- true hoarders don't admit they have a hoarding problem ... Were there no safeguards put in place and why did co-workers witness him taking trash bags of stuff out of the office and not think that was strange?
    • David  •  Los Angeles, California  •  3 mths ago
      Its not my fault I have all this dope at my house officer - I'm a hoarder. Honest.
    • D. H. Y  •  3 mths ago
      Did his wife ever say to him, "Dammit Robert quit cluttering up my living room, dining room, kitchen, garage, bedroom, bathroom, den, the back yard, the attic, and the cellar with all of that useless paper that has the TOP SECRET Cover Sheet on it, Why hell, you are nothing but a low-life Pack Rat." And Robert quietly replied, "I know Dear, but I have been inflicted with the Hoarding Curse, Help Me, Help me". And she said, "You'll soon get all of the help that you need from the Shrink at Leavenworth".
    • Imagine  •  Los Angeles, California  •  3 mths ago
      What is disturbing is not the theft of documents, that is fairly well to be expected, is it not?

      What is disturbing is the institutional idiocy that attempts to paint this a hoarding!
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