Loss of secret data puts navy's handling of storage devices under investigation — again

Two of Canada's frontline frigates lost electronic storage devices containing classified and top secret data — including electronic warfare material — according to security inventories conducted over the last two years, CBC News has learned.

The devices — USBs, DVDs and a backup hard drive — went missing despite an apparent tightening of security in the wake of a spy scandal almost a decade ago, and a separate internal 2013 board of inquiry which recommended measures to clean up the navy's handling of classified data.

In August 2020, according to documents obtained by CBC News, an inventory of the secure data account aboard HMCS Fredericton "discovered numerous classified and unclassified [electronic warfare] items" were missing.

A subsequent search focused on two missing DVDs containing highly "sensitive" information, including information about threat emitters — electronic devices to identify and help counter incoming missiles — used by the ship's various systems.

A follow-up internal investigation concluded the loss of the secret data had the potential to seriously affect the national interest.

"The possibility of uncontrolled disclosure cannot be ruled out, however it does not appear inappropriate disclosure took place," said a security assessment prepared for the military's director general of security.

Military police were called in to investigate but the DVDs are still missing. The frigate is now deployed in support of Operation Reassurance, a NATO mission to deter Russian aggression in Eastern Europe.

This isn't the first time that highly sensitive electronics and information have been mishandled by the navy.

In mid-October, a classified message-handling hard drive was reported missing after a routine security audit of HMCS Montreal.

CBC News has learned senior officers aboard the frigate alerted officials at the Department of National Defence (DND) to the loss of the drive — typically used to store high-frequency or ultra-high frequency message traffic during NATO operations.

News of the HMCS Montreal security audit came from two confidential sources; CBC News has agreed not to identify them because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

The hard drive was discovered missing during inventory of the security safe where it and other classified material, such as technical manuals, are stored, said the two sources.

DND subsequently confirmed the breach to CBC News.

Sailors searched for the storage device for more than six weeks.