DEN HAAG - The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been embarrassed by the loss of a USB stick with sensitive information. The data stick contains information and documents about the Dutch embassy in the Polish capital Warsaw.

The stick, which is in the hands of the Volkskrant, contains the secret access codes to the private residence of a diplomat and the names of the bodyguards that traveled to Poland with Prime Minister Balkenende(including a description of their firearms and their registration numbers)
The USB stick also contains privacy-sensitive information such as rejection letters to applicants, photographs and telephone numbers. There are also internal memos about the many flaws in the brand new Embassy complex, and declarations, maps and detailed ledgers.

An employee had left the stick in a rental car last year. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the loss "very embarrassing. A spokesman points out that the stick contains no known "official confidential documents".

Last year the Department of Defense already also lost two USB sticks. One, showing secret military information on Afghanistan, was also found in a rental car. In July, Defense advised against the overall use of USB sticks. Yet in August a soldier in Uruzgan again lost a data stick.
After a weeks long quest Foreign Affairs now knows "with a probability bordering on certainty" who has lost the usb stick. The affected employee has admitted that he storage medium, which is owned by the Ministry, is lost. An internal investigation should clarify exactly how the incident could have happened.

In August of 2005 The ministry began to provide USB sticks. At the time the the employees were informed explicitally about the dangers of the use of the sticks. The small sticks are easily lost, while they may contain a large amount of information. The user rules were then repeated in newsletters.
"But apparently not all employees are aware that they should handle such a petty little thing carefully" said the spokesman.

Many documents on the USB stick lost in December 2004 are about the embassy complex in Warsaw. The buildings were faced with numerous long defects: cracks in the walls, leaks, wavy carpet. The Ministry soon got entangled in a fierce battle with the contractor Budimex Dromex on the necessary repairs, according to the documents on the stick. The necessary adjustments have ultimately led to a an exceeding of the cost with 1.7 million euro. In April last year all defects were fixed, according to Buza the department.