Missing FBI computer held data on Ames

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- One of the laptop computers the FBI has reported missing contained classified information on convicted spy Aldrich Ames, intelligence sources told CNN on Thursday.

The information, entered into the laptop after the CIA employee's 1994 arrest, was garnered during the debriefing process. The computer is heavily encrypted, sources said.

"Bottom line, it was information that was already compromised," one intelligence source told CNN.

Three other missing computers could also contain sensitive information, the sources said.

Ames, a veteran CIA counterintelligence officer, pleaded guilty to spying for the Soviet Union and Russia. At least 10 of the agents named by Ames were executed.

Officials say there is still a chance the FBI will locate many of the laptops. A bureau-wide search is under way not only for the missing laptops but also for missing weapons.

The Justice Department announced Tuesday an FBI internal review showed nearly 500 firearms had been stolen or were missing. As many as 184 laptop computers were listed as missing or stolen, some of which contained classified information, officials said.

Of the 13,000 laptops used by the FBI, officials said 171 were missing and 13 were stolen. The FBI attributed many of the missing laptops to the lack of documentation when outmoded machines were destroyed.

The agency said it has tentatively determined 449 weapons were unaccounted for. Of that number, 184 weapons of various types had been stolen, most of them from vehicles during the past 11 years.

Another 265 weapons have been reported lost. About 91 of the lost weapons had been used in training, 66 were lost when agents retired and apparently not turned in their service revolvers. Another four of the weapons unaccounted for were associated with agents who were fired or had died, FBI officials said.