Sensitive Orlando Airport Plans Found in a Trash Bin

Apr. 5 -- Police are investigating how sensitive security documents detailing Orlando International Airport schematics, fuel-storage facilities and communications systems were found in a dumpster last month.

Orlando police Capt. Paul Rooney said Wednesday that investigators have just begun a probe to determine how the documents, labeled "sensitive security information" not to be released without a "need to know," were discarded.

"The Orlando Police Department is conducting an investigation at this point," said Rooney, who heads the agency's airport division. "We don't know if it's a crime or not, if it's a theft or burglary from an office. We're definitely going to look into it."

The documents were part of a three-volume, 20-year growth master plan for the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority. Also included was a photocopied booklet of blueprints. Though largely a planning document with innocuous projections, land-use and expansion drawings, potentially sensitive information is sprinkled throughout the mostly double-sided, 652-page report dated August 2004.

Airport spokeswoman Carolyn Fennell said she was unaware of the OPD investigation. "I know nothing about it at this point," she said.

A teenage aviation enthusiast came upon the documents in a dumpster and took them as a "souvenir." A parent turned the materials over to the Orlando Sentinel, two weeks after two Comair employees were charged with smuggling 14 guns and 8 pounds of marijuana on a Delta flight to San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The teen and parent said they were acting as "good Samaritans" in turning the documents over to the newspaper and did not want any publicity.

On Wednesday, Orlando police Det. Jay Mack sent an e-mail to a Sentinel reporter seeking an interview for his investigation. Sentinel editors declined the offer, citing company policy preventing reporters from participating in most police investigations and the desire to avoid accusations of bias.

The dumpster sits behind an unfenced, general-purpose warehouse on airport property on Dowden Road, a public street north of Lake Nona. "No trespassing" signs are posted outside the building.

Last month, the Sentinel turned the documents over to Robert Raffel, GOAA's top security official. He said the documents were not the ultra-sensitive security plan for the airport, but contained information that should have been shredded or destroyed. He vowed to take steps to prevent it from happening again, including increasing document-security awareness for the airport's 16,000 workers and randomly inspecting airport dumpsters.

The documents contained warnings stating they were deemed sensitive under federal law and should not be released without permission from the Transportation Security Administration or the Secretary of Transportation. The warnings threatened "civil penalty or other action" for unauthorized release.

Beth Kassab of the Sentinel staff contributed to this report.

Copyright (c) 2007, The Orlando Sentinel, Fla. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News. For reprints, email , call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

News stories provided by third parties are not edited by "Site Publication" staff. For suggestions and comments, please click the Contact link at the bottom of this page.