State Department officials disciplined; senior officer quits in protest

J. Stapleton Roy, Director of the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research, resigned Tuesday to protest disciplinary actions taken against career employees by Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

Last week, Albright reacted to a flap over a missing State Department laptop computer by suspending Roy's deputy, Donald Keyser, for 30 days without pay and by reassigning him to a less prominent position. Six other State Department officials will be disciplined in the case of the missing laptop.

Earlier this year, the computer, which contains highly classified information on weapons of mass destruction, disappeared from a secure area at the department's Washington headquarters. The laptop and the information are still missing.

On the heels of the laptop fiasco, Albright transferred authority for protecting highly sensitive information from the Bureau of Intelligence and Research to the Bureau of Diplomatic Security.

Roy was one of two active foreign service officers with the rank of career ambassador and was a three-time U.S. ambassador.