What an amazing coincidence!

Apart from the seriousness of the security breach - that din reminiscent of a bowling alley you've been hearing all morning is the sound of heads rolling in the hallways of CANSOFCOM, or it should be - a couple of points strike me as odd from this story.

First, a cynical old hand like Pugliese must have been forcing his fingers to move over the keys as he typed this mind-boggling account of how the documents were found:

The blueprints were found March 13 by the spouse of Anthony Salloum, an analyst with the Rideau Institute, the left-leaning Ottawa think-tank. As the couple were on their way to dinner, Mr. Salloum's spouse noticed a large pile of garbage bags on the sidewalk, on top of which sat seven large rolled tubes of paper stamped with Defence Department markings.

"I thought they looked interesting, but we were headed to dinner, so I figured I'd pick one up on the way back if they were still there," said Mr. Salloum.

The blueprints were still sitting in the garbage an hour or so later, so Mr. Salloum took one of the rolls. He doesn't know what happened to the rest of the rolls.

Mr. Salloum should purchase a lottery ticket. C'mon, there's what - a million people in the metro Ottawa area - and an analyst for one of DND's fiercest critics is the one who stumbles across these papers? If that's true, then perhaps I should also rethink my earlier dismissal of the Tooth Fairy. Truth may be stranger than fiction in some cases, but this smells far more like the latter than the former to me.

Second, if you were the one, gentle reader, who happened across what were obviously sensitive documents in a pile of garbage in the street, would your first call be to a reporter for the local newspaper? Mine would be to the police. And, since I know a few people in uniform, to NDHQ. The fact that DND learned of this indiscretion from The Ottawa Citizen speaks volumes to me about the character of the Rideau Institute and its employees.

This is one hell of a security SNAFU, and now that it has happened and we can't un-ring the bell, I'm glad it has come to public light: the necessary procedural changes will be made, and the necessary asses will be chewed. But what a sorry spectacle to get there.

Reminds me of another incident where the prime focus was to embarrass the government rather than do what was in the best interests of the nation. Hmm. That must be coincidence too.

Update: From the comments:

Heads at CANSOFCOM shouldn't have to roll. They aren't responsible for document control of blueprints, spec's etc. for Base Construction projects. Want to lay blame within DND, look at Base Construction or Defense Construction Canada. In reality, the responsibility lies with Public Works, not DND...

My bad. Apologies to those unfairly called out. Of course, that just means different heads should roll.