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To: arno who wrote (625)10/2/2018 2:41:30 PM
From: Alan Smithee  Respond to of 629
 
FBI agent shot by booby-trapped wheelchair in fortified home

PORTLAND, Ore. -- A former southern Oregon property owner has been charged with assault on a federal officer after, authorities say, an FBI agent sent to the property was shot from a booby-trapped wheelchair.

Law enforcement officers responded to the home in the small town of Williams on Sept. 7 at the request of a real estate lawyer tasked with selling the property, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported Monday.

A criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Medford said officers found traps throughout the property from spike strips to a circular hot tub turned on its side and rigged to roll over anyone who triggered a tripwire.

"(It was) much like a scene from the movie 'Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark' in which actor Harrison Ford is forced to outrun a giant stone boulder that he inadvertently triggered by a booby trap switch," the complaint said.

After making it past the hot tub, according to the complaint, a bomb squad and FBI agent approached the property's manufactured home and blasted open the fortified front door.

Inside the home a wheelchair outfitted with a fishing line, shotgun ammunition and other items got pushed and triggered the explosion that wounded the agent, according to court documents. An X-ray found a .410-guage shotgun pellet in the agent's leg, documents said.

Authorities said the makeshift weapons were created by 66-year-old Gregory Rodvelt, who was forced to forfeit his property as part of an elder abuse case involving his mother.

Rodvelt currently is in Arizona's Maricopa County Jail, where he is in the midst of an assault trial in a separate case related to an alleged armed standoff. He has refused a court-appointed defense lawyer, the Mail Tribune reported .

Rodvelt had been in the Arizona jail since April 2017, but courts released him in mid-August for two weeks so he could prepare to turn over the property.

In the weeks since the agent was injured, a team of private contractors consisting of former military experts has inspected the property, the real estate attorney said



To: arno who wrote (625)10/29/2018 3:55:04 PM
From: Alan Smithee  Respond to of 629
 
Government auditors traced a malware infection back to a single porn-watching employee within the U.S. Geological Survey.

An Interior Department watchdog recommended the U.S. Geological Survey ratchet up internet security protocols after discovering its networks had been infected with malware from pornography sites.

The agency’s inspector general traced the malicious software to a single unnamed USGS employee, who reportedly used a government-issued computer to visit some 9,000 adult video sites, according to a report published Oct. 17.

Many of the prohibited pages were linked to Russian websites containing malware, which was ultimately downloaded to the employee’s computer and used to infiltrate USGS networks, auditors found. The investigation found the employee saved much of the pornographic material on an unauthorized USB drive and personal Android cellphone, both of which were connected to their computer against agency protocols.

The employee’s cell phone was also infected with malware.

“Our digital forensic examination revealed that [the employee] had an extensive history of visiting adult pornography websites” that hosted malware, the IG wrote. “The malware was downloaded to [the employee’s] government laptop, which then exploited the USGS’ network.”

The department’s rules of behavior explicitly prohibit employees from using government networks for viewing pornography and other inappropriate activities, and the IG found the employee had agreed to these rules “several years prior to detection.” The employee no longer works at the agency, OIG External Affairs Director Nancy DiPaolo told Nextgov.

Auditors recommended USGS more closely monitor employees’ web browsing and enforce blacklists of prohibited websites. They said proactively identifying and blocking adult websites “will likely enhance preventative countermeasures.”

They also advised the agency to strengthen its IT security policies to stop employees from connecting personal devices to government computers, which could propagate malware on federal networks. USGS guidelines currently prohibit employees from doing so, but the agency hasn’t disabled such connections on government-issued devices.

This isn’t the first time federal employees have been caught browsing explicit content at the workplace.

Over the last 15 years, similar scandals have enveloped the Environmental Protection Agency, Securities and Exchange Commission and IRS. Last year, a D.C.-area news network uncovered “ egregious on-the-job pornography viewing” at a dozen federal agencies and national security officials have reportedly found an “ unbelievable” amount of child pornography on government devices.

The problem is so prevalent that Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., has introduced legislation banning pornography at federal agencies three different times