WASHINGTON -- State Department officials said Wednesday they have found another classifed document hidden inside a Lorton, Va., prison, where a file cabinet full of sensitive papers was mistakenly sent for routine refurbishing.
Secretary of State George Shultz ordered an investigation to determine who was responsible for shipping the unlocked four-drawer safe full of top-secret documents along with empty cabinets to the prison, which houses inmates from the District of Columbia.
The safe full of classified papers, including intelligence analyses, was originally discovered by staff members at the prison on Oct. 25, said department spokesman Alan Romberg.
Another 30 documents showed up Tuesday after they had been turned over to Washington television station WTTG.
On Wednesday, District of Columbia corrections authorities conducted a search of Lorton and, according to the department, 'recovered an additional classified document.'
The cabinet safe, which could be secured by a locked bar, was not closed because it had been stored in a security vault in the department, the State Department said.
It was sent to Lorton, which houses District of Columbia prisoners, on Sept. 1 as part of a regular project to have inmates refurbish government office furniture.
The grey metal safe looks much like an oversized file cabinet, with a heavy metal bar controlling all the drawers. Documents originally found by two corrections officers included some stamped 'Top Secret' and 'Secretary's Morning Summary,' said Romberg.
The cabinets were from the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research, which has access to information from the CIA and other intelligence agencies, including those of other countries.
State Department officials retrieved the files, assuming they had all of them.
But an inmate at the prison called reporter James Adams of WTTG Monday to say he had found some 30 pages of other classified documents. Adams called Sen. Charles Mathias, R-Md., who checked with the State Department. Officials again went to Lorton to pick up their classified papers.
'The secretary wants a full investigation,' Romberg said. Such an investigation could lead to possible lie detector tests and disciplinary measures.
'A damage assessment survey is under way' to determine what classified information had been compromised, he said.
The documents in the safe dated from January, February and March of 1983, including summaries of the morning briefing given to Shultz -- some of the most sensitive information in the State Department.
