CDC missing $22,000,000 of equipment and computers

$22,000,000 Value of Equipment, Computers Missing From CDC
Thursday, July 12, 2007 0637 PDT

ATLANTA, Georgia -- The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will
investigate the disappearance of $22 million worth of equipment, computers
and other items from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Last month, a congressional oversight committee requested an audit of the
CDC's property management procedures and an investigation into allegations
of theft at the center.

CDC officials said they have accounted for about $9 million in missing goods
in recent weeks.

"A thorough audit will help stop the bleeding of taxpayer-owned property at
CDC," U.S. Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, a member of the House Committee on
Energy and Commerce, said in a statement Wednesday. "In cases of theft, it
will also tell us what happened to the thieves."

The committee specifically said it was concerned about a suspected "insider"
burglary of $500,000 in computers, and millions of dollars worth of other
items missing or unaccounted for since the CDC's last audit in 1995.

Daniel Levinson, inspector general of Health and Human Services, told Barton
in a June 25 letter that his department would conduct an audit and
investigate the theft allegations, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported
Thursday.

Between fiscal 2004 and 2006, there were 61 investigations into the theft or
disappearance of CDC property. No arrests or disciplinary action resulted
from those investigations, and several are ongoing, CDC spokesman Tom
Skinner said.

He said much of the equipment was discovered missing during a reorganization
at the center. Staff are using new computer programs to better track items,
he said.