A BlackBerry device was among the things that were stolen from a White House aide earlier this summer, according to FOX 5. This led to serious concerns that the device could be misused and thus poses a security risk.
BlackBerry was immediately disabled
The robbery took place on July 14 at around 11:30 p.m. on Irving Street in New York. A junior White House aide was walking near the Columbia Heights Metro station when two suspects jumped him from behind and hit him twice in his face, says FOX 5. The victim fell to the ground after this, and the suspects checked his pockets. He lost his backpack, wallet, government-issued BlackBerry, credit card and his “identity documents” as the police call them. There was a minor cut on his upper lip, for which he got treated at the hospital.
The name of the victim name is not in the police report, but he has been identified by FOX 5, which chose to keep the name a secret considering what he has gone through. FOX 5 learned his name from a source, and the name was confirmed by the White House later. FOX 5 believes two arrests have been made in the case, though nothing has been confirmed by the D.C. police.
On being asked by FOX 5, if the White House ID and the government-issued BlackBerry of the victim were stolen, a spokesman at White House said in an email that a few weeks ago a “junior White House staffer” was a victim of a robbery “after work hours and not on White House grounds. His BlackBerry was stolen, and he immediately reported the theft, followed appropriate security procedure, and the device was disabled.” The victim’s White House ID was not stolen, said the official.
Another case involving BlackBerry and the White House
In a separate case involving the White House, the State Department accepted that Cheryl Mills and Huma Abedin, top aides of Hillary Clinton, were given government-issued BlackBerry phones during their tenure at the department, but now they are unable to locate the devices, department said in a court filing made last month.
The case is related to the popular political scandal involving former Secretary of State Clinton, who sent some official emails from her personal BlackBerry.
