A laptop with sensitive security information on it was stolen from a Secret Service agent in New York City, law enforcement officials said on Friday US time, prompting a multi-agency investigation to try to retrieve it.
The Secret Service said in a statement that "an employee was the victim of a criminal act in which our agency-issued laptop computer was stolen.''
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The investigation into the laptop theft occurred as a House committee separately launched an investigation into an intrusion earlier this month on White House grounds.
The agency tried to dispel concerns about the security risks posed by the theft, saying their agents' laptops "contain multiple layers of security including full disk encryption and are not permitted to contain classified information.''
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The agency did not say what sensitive information might be on the laptop, but one law enforcement official said it contained building and security plans for Trump Tower, home of President Donald Trump and his family.
The official said the laptop was stolen from a vehicle in the driveway of the agent's home in Brooklyn on Thursday morning. The computer was in a bag that was later recovered, but the laptop was no longer in it, the official said.
A personal laptop was also in the bag and taken by the thief, but officials are less concerned about the data on that device, the official said.
Authorities have recovered video of a man walking away with the bag, and are chasing a number of leads to try to find him, the official said.
The report of an intensive search for the device came as a House oversight committee ordered the Secret Service to preserve documents and deliver a full briefing Monday about a March 10 episode at the executive mansion.
In a letter on Friday to Acting US Secret Service Director William Callahan, House Committee on Oversight on Government Reform chairman Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, said his panel had received potentially troubling allegations about security protocols in which a California man was arrested near the South Portico entrance.
"I worry this is the worst one yet," Chaffetz said. "The time on the White House grounds really concerns me. With the President in the White House the intruder was evidently able to hide behind a pillar and get to a door undetected. The problem has persisted for years and is totally unacceptable. It scares me."
CNN reported that the suspect, Jonathan Tran, 26, of Milpitas, California, walked the grounds of the White House for 15 minutes or more before being arrested at about 11.38pm that Friday night.
"The response to the alarm was lacking," according to CNN which quoted an agency source it did not name. The suspect allegedly jumped multiple fences and set off several alarms while evading others, the cable network said.
The US Secret Service did not immediately respond on Friday to questions about the CNN report.
The day's events threatened to renew scrutiny of the agency, which underwent a management overhaul after a string of revelation and lapses after a 2014 incident in which intruder Omar Gonzalez made his way deep into the executive mansion before being tackled by an off-duty agent in the East Room.
Washington Post