State Department offers reward for missing laptop

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. State Department is offering a $25,000 reward for a laptop computer that has been missing for months from one of the Department's most secure areas, a spokesman said Wednesday.

"We think, at this point in the investigation, it was time to put out a reward of $25,000, if anybody can identify the machine and bring it to us," spokesman Richard Boucher said. "It's a Dell laptop with a five-digit serial number ending in the letter "Q," located on a sticker in the back near the ports."

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As CNN has reported, the computer was not password-protected and the raw data was not encrypted. That means anyone using the computer could have immediate access to its code-word contents, which the State Department has said are highly classified.

Boucher was asked why he would describe the laptop's appearance when the State Department has said it is concerned about the machine falling into the wrong hands.

"If people with nefarious goals took it, they probably know what they've got already," he explained. "If people thought they were just swiping a laptop or pawning it or fencing it or whatever, it doesn't really matter to them what's on it."

Boucher would not say whether the reward was a no-questions-asked offer, but he said investigators hoped it would give them new leads.

Anyone with information about the laptop is encouraged to contact the State Department at 202-647-7277.

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