| | Words in the News |
INTRO | | The United States Secretary of State Madeleine Albright announced major security changes at the State Department's Washington headquarters after the loss of a laptop computer containing top secret information. |
IN FULL | |  | Listen to the report in full |
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27th April 2000
Security breach at the US State Department
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NEWS 1 | | | Listen to US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright |
| | | So today I want to reiterate to every employee in every office, in every bureau and diplomatic post - security must be your top priority in all its aspects, all the time. Our goal should be an environment for security that is second to none. |
WORDS | | reiterate: if you reiterate something, you repeat it in order to make it totally clear top priority: something that comes first; the most important thing goal: aim second to none: better, or more secure than anyone else's |
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| NEWS 2 | | | Listen to BBC Washington correspondent Andrew Roy |
| | | The laptop is reported to contain material so secret, it has a special classification above the merely top secret. The so-called code word information is said to detail what America knows about the spread of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, and also how it got that information through its network of spies. The loss of the laptop is turning into a debacle for the State Department. It’s not clear whether the computer was stolen on purpose or merely misplaced, nor is it clear when the computer first disappeared. It may have been missing for several weeks before anyone noticed. |
| WORDS | | laptop: portable computer to contain: to have inside it top secret: if something is secret, it is kept from the knowledge of others; the word "top" here means "totally", "to the highest degree" debacle: absolute disaster on purpose: deliberately, with a specific intention misplaced: put in the wrong place by mistake |
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| NEWS 3 | | | Listen to BBC Washington correspondent Andrew Roy |
| | | Congress and a government inspector-general have called for a complete overhaul of security at the State Department. But this is only the latest major security lapse: last year, a Russian listening device was discovered inside a State Department conference room and the year before, a man walked into the State Department executive secretary’s office and carried off classified documents. The man and the documents were never seen again. |
| WORDS | | complete overhaul: full examination followed by the necessary restructuring major: serious lapse: mistake classified: not for general knowledge, secret |
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| | | Read about the background in BBC News Online |
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