State Department

By J.F.O. McAllister

Feb. 28 was definitely a bad day for JOHN ARBOGAST, a State Department lawyer who specializes in U.N. affairs. Running late, he stuffed a bunch of papers into one of his three bags and hurried to his car. Then he drove off, leaving the bags on the car roof, with predictable results. RONALD T. NELSON, a passing motorist, found Arbogast's briefcase, which held personal items. But Nelson tells TIME that when he returned it, Arbogast said that papers in the other two bags were "sensitive" and "important" and that some pertained to the crisis in Iraq. According to investigators, one bag is still missing. "There was no work-related material in the bags to the best of my knowledge," Arbogast said when contacted by TIME, but shortly afterward he notified State security officers of his loss, and the FBI is investigating. So far, investigators don't know if anything classified was lost. Meanwhile, security in Secretary of State MADELEINE ALBRIGHT'S suite was tightened after TIME reported two weeks ago that sensitive documents had been lifted from there. Officials say that State is ripe for "a major overhaul" of its document-protection system. State says its system is comparable to that of other agencies; still, it assembled 700 managers last week to insist upon greater discipline.

--By J.F.O. McAllister. With reporting by Elaine Shannon and Adam Zagorin/Washington

With reporting by Elaine Shannon and Adam Zagorin/Washington