Identifylng and Charging Computer Crimes in the Military

• Author: Captain Michael L. Stevens
• Pages: 02

1. Introduction

   The computer has become a pervasive force in American society since the 19506, In 1916, more than two mxllion people in the Umted States had computer-related jobs as programmers, operators, and maintenance technicians.' It was estimated that in 1978 there were more than 100,000 main.frme computers and 200,000 minimrnputem in aperation in the United States: and that by 1990 there wiU be over eighty mlllion microamputem in existence.' The computer has 60 permeated the American way of life that it was selected as Time Magazine's " 'ma. chine'of the year"foor 1982.'

   The computer has become critical to our national defense, financial transactions, and information transmissions The federal government alone has over 18,000 medium and large scale computers at apprax~. mately 4,500 locations.8 The General Service Administration projects

   .,... .. ... . .. *_..._._...,".,-I.

   n the JAGCI Pmrfiie, The Army Lawyer. June

   'H Rep Ila 894.98th Can$. 2d Sene reppnnfed m 1984 US Code Cang & Ad News 609lherernafrercztedaaH Rep No 8941

   'Tune M w z m

   Jan 3.1983'H Rep No 894.suprnnote4.si514

   rd Piorrssw and a

   pmme OYr 0 t e "ne tale8

   that by 1990 there will be between 260,000 and 500.000 microamput. erg in use in the federal government.'

   While the use of computers increases in legitimate government and business activities, the use of those Same computers m illeotimate BC.

   tivities is not far behind. Because the cnminals have never been averse to using new technology to further their craft, the government must be vigilant m thwarting their ever increasing advances. The cnmmal JUS.

   tice Bystem has remaned "largely uninformed concerning the technical aspects of computerization. . The purpose of this article 1s to provide the military attorney with an analytical framework upon which to un.derstand the role of computer.relsted cnmes in the military justice sys-tem.

   11. The Extent of Computer.Related Crime

   The mditary is not immune to camputer.related crimes. Four attempts were made in 1974 to sabotage computer operations at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base by employing such techniques as using magnets to destroy computer data, loosening electrical wms to stop the manframe computer from receiving power, and gouging electronic equipment with sharp tools Fortunately, the financial lasses from these attempts were smalls

   Nor was the incident at WnghbPattersan an isolated occurrence: other mcidenta mvolvmg crimes by computer have occurred in the mill-tary On August 24,1970. an Army Mathematm Research Center at the University of Wisconsin was bombed by political dissidenta. The exploion killed a researcher, caused nearly $2 fi million in property damage, and destroyed an accumulation of twenty years of important data which represented an investment of nearly $16 million.'o A disgruntled Army officer in 1970 erased purchasing data from magnetic tapes in Washing ton, D.C., while awaiting retirement.L' In 1979, a senior airman was convicted for destroying telephone toll tickets before they could be entered

   19851 COMPUTER CRIME

   into the computer far billing.'l Mare recentiy a staff sergeant altered computer records as part of a larceny scheme at RheimMain Air Base."

   The cost of computer crimes in the military can reach enormoue proportions. At Kelly Air Base, San Antonio, Texas, the government paid nearly $100,000 to bagus companies far arcraft fuel that was never de. livered." A government employee working at the air base created these bogus companies as part of a computer scheme to defraud the government. The employee had "in depth knowledge of the computerized fuel accounting system which he helped develop and install."5i During the early 1970s, a South Korean cnme organization, with the help of Ameri. cans, was able to exploit a United States Amy computer Over 517million m Amencan food, uniforms, vehicle p~rm,and other goads was stolen each year from Amy installations. Not only are the financial cost8 of computer crime staggering, the negative impact on military readiness can threaten national security

   The General Accounting Office (GAO) released ~n 1976 a report en.titled "Computer Related Crimes in Federal Programs."L' Thirtythree of

   In 1974 AFOSI and FBI ~nve~ll%stmni

   dacovarad and prsrenred the fraudulent shpment of U S Government property vslued at 5830.000 This investigaban u.m pursued and further disclosed that fraudulent dweram ofUS Ax Foree cammuniestians equipment though computer malupviarmhad occurred during 1972-74 A ~ D W W of the computer fisniaerinns re.waled that shpments of 145 items, ialued at nearly $573,000 had bean diverted from the Air Force and $old to unknown eornercial muice& An addi. tima145 mm8. valued at nearly 5330.000 had been ahpped but %,ere eubse~uancly raeoierad by miliisry awhormes and the FBI The mdividvals IOspanaible for the ineidrntswere apprehended and proseruledid. "Lsx Enforcement Assintance Adrmn, C S Dep't of Justlce. Computer Crma-Crm-mal Justice Resovree Manual 310 (1879) !Case KO 1723) [heremafter cited a% DOJManual]

   "General Aecavntmg Office. Computer Related Clvnss m Federsl Programs (1976).re

   piinled zn Sen Cornrn. on Gob I Oprml~ana Probkms Asrociuled vilh Computer Trrhnai-DE? an RdirnlProgmms ond Priuafeindusfir. 94th Cang , 2d Sebs. 71-91 ( C o r n Print 19761 Iheremafter cited aaGAO Report] Oneauthor haJapmedthstthp"GA0repDrt pro bides the anly rehable dam 100, computer crmel becauc LI I based on aeU.docunented c~be6rlth venfmbk losbe~ Taber. A Suriey of Computer Cnme Studies. 2 Computer L J 216. 310 (1980)

   [heremafter elfed 88 Taber] He also had h>$h pram for the d m r ) law enforcement agencies. stating that thenreporfed computer ~nmes'a~ered crvnesand tharthefactaofthpcasDsare reaianab1yeloJatobemgasrtated"id at281

   the sixtysix computerdated crimes reportsd in the federal government involved the military serv~ea.~~

   The Army's Cnminal Invesngation Command reported thirteen cases. cwelve reports of fraudulent rec. ord enkm and one repart of a conflict of interest violation on the part of managers.>* The Naval Investigative Service reported four cases, which included one incident of obtaining free computer time, two instances of false record entries, and one instance of a stolen program lo The Air Force Office of Special Investigations reported thirteen cases, all related to false record entries."

   The statistics for computer-related crimes m the federal government are significant. The average lass from a reported computer.related crime in the federal government was S44,110,12and the median loss was $6,749.#* Sixtyseven percent of the cases in the GAO report mvolved fraud," and a majority of the cam involved false recard entries.'$ Most of the crimes in the GAO report consisted of "submitting manually pre. pared, but falsified, forms to a cornputenzed recard ksepmg system."ZL Mare importantly, "[alt least 60 were cammltted by technologically naive users of the systems. not by computer professmnals ''w '"The poten. tial for defrauding the U.S

   Government via computers 1s terrifying. The

   Department of Defense uses more than 3,000 computers DOD, with the aid of mme of these computers. disburses nearly $26 billion annually and about $6 6 billion LS paid out completely by computer ''2s

   "-Id9'Id st 149.60 For example, the false recard enfriei included fairificaiion to obmm pre.

   "GAOReport.supm note 17.8189 91"Taber.supiunafe 17 ai280*,Id at282"Id"Id"Id"Proferllon Act Hearings gupra note 9. at 3 lrratemenr of Sen Jaaepd R Blden Jr >

   "-Id9'Id st 149.60 For example, the false recard enfriei included fairificaiion t,

   "GAOReport.supm note 17.8189 91"Taber.supiunafe 17 ai280*,Id at282

   Eerred araignmenls and IO permitre-onhstment of an ~nehg~ble ioldler

   Eerred araignmenls and IO permitre-onhstment of an ~nehg~ble ioldler

   "Id

   "Id"Id"Proferllon Act Hearings mpra note 9. at 3 lrratemenr of Sen Jaaepd R ThenaivreandextenrofDODiehance ~n~omp~terhaai explainedasfollaus

   ThenaivreandextenrofDODiehance ~n~omp~terhaai explainedasfollaus

   rrstion Thia caregar) constrfutai by far thelar~eiteoncenfratlDnaf ADPre. murcei m DGD

   Second, command and contra1 and lntehgence iunc*ms reqmre ~omputer support uifh the atrendant requirement& for red time, isrge iforage rem]. automated re~ponse. random acceis and high rohabihty Such computers me critical to the DOD ~ L S I I O ~

   19851 COMPUTER CRIME

   Nonmilitary studies of computer.related crime provide even more alarming statistms. Losses from computer.re1ated crimes have been esti. mated at between $100 million and $300 million annually in the United States.zs The estimated average take from a computer crime IB over $460,000 Only one of every one hundred computer crimes is de. tected:l u.d only fifteen percent of the detected computer.related crimes are ever reported to law enforcement authorities.s' Of those cnmes reported, only three percent resulted m jail sentences?B

   More importantly, the chances of being prosecuted for a computer-related crime are only 1 in 22,000."'

   The victim af B computer crime may aim assume that the la. cal law enforcement agency has no inveshgatars capable of investigating a computer crime, that there are no prosecutors capable of adequately taking such a ease to trial, and that there are no judges sufficiently sophisticated to conduct the rnal and sentencing in such B

   For the enterprising criminal, computewelated crime provides an ex. ceptional opportunity for B iow.nsk but high.yield endeavor.

   111. DEFINING COMPUTER-RELATED CRIME

   Significant debate has been engendered not only in defining computer crime, but also in developing an appropriate tern for describing the

   StaffStudy supmnote18.st144-45

   *'D. Parker, Crime by Computer 29 (19161 [heremafter cited as Parker] The cost ai cam-pufer cnme WBQ estunated to be 88 IOUas SI00 million by the Dmfd Stetea Chamber of Commerce and a8 high 88 S3 5 blVlon bi the Harvard Buamess Revier 125 Cong Ree 5 711 (dad? ed Jan. 25.19791. One author has rased senm quedma about the nhabil. it)...