DATE=6/15/2000
TYPE=U-S OPINION ROUNDUP
TITLE=NUCLEAR SECRETS MISSING AT LOS ALAMOS
NUMBER=6-11874
BYLINE=ANDREW GUTHRIE
DATELINE=WASHINGTON
EDITOR=ASSIGNMENTS
TELEPHONE=619-3335
INTERNET=YES
CONTENT=
INTRO: For the second time in a year, important
information on United States nuclear weapons is
missing from one of the nation's top secret
laboratories.
The information, stored on two computer devices, is
believed to have disappeared from the Los Alamos, New
Mexico National Laboratory, around the time a huge
forest fire was threatening the facility. The missing
data was not reported to top government officials
for several weeks. That delay has added to the
outrage of congressional critics, who say the Energy
Department, the agency responsible for maintaining the
nation's nuclear weapons, is unable to safeguard
nuclear secrets. Like Congress, the nation's press is
pretty upset as we hear now from _____________ in
today's U-S Opinion Roundup.
TEXT: Less than a year ago, it was discovered that a
Chinese-born U-S nuclear scientist, Wen Ho Lee, had
taken highly classified data from his office computer
at the Los Alamos laboratory and transferred it to his
home computer.
There was great concern at the time that this
information might have fallen into the hands of
foreign countries, but Mr. Lee steadfastly denied
that. He was eventually fired from the laboratory,
and arrested on charges of mishandling classified
data.
Now the Los Alamos laboratory is involved in another
serious security breach. We begin our sampling with
The Los Angeles Times.
TEXT: Energy Secretary Bill Richardson's earlier
assurances that security flaws at the Los Alamos
National Laboratory had been fixed turn out to be not
just wrong but ridiculous. The disappearance of
secret nuclear data on two computer hard drives from a
vault at the New Mexico weapons facility reveals
continuing laxity in safeguarding highly sensitive
information. ... The missing hard drives contain
information about Russian and Chinese nuclear weapons,
as well as weapons of American allies. The danger of
this material falling into the wrong hands is obvious.
TEXT: The New York Times calls the case "appalling,"
and spells out why the loss is so serious.
VOICE: The two computer hard drives contained data
used to respond to nuclear accidents or terrorist
attacks. They have been missing from a secure vault
at the lab since at least early May. Staff members of
the Nuclear Emergency Search Team, the group
responsible for managing the hard drives, became aware
of their disappearance on May 7th, but there are
reports that the drives were last seen for certain in
early April. ... Incredibly, the lab does not even
require staff members to sign a log when they remove
classified material, making it hard to determine when
or why or by whom material is removed. That will now
have to be determined by a federal inquiry after the
fact.
TEXT: Ohio's [Akron] Beacon Journal sums up its
displeasure this way:
VOICE: The federal government has fundamental duties.
One is the protection of nuclear secrets.
Unfortunately, the Department of Energy can't seem to
meet the task. Yes, Bill Richardson knows how to
scare people.
TEXT: In the Pacific Northwest, the Seattle Times
also targets the Energy Secretary.
VOICE: Bill Richardson is taking a pounding in
Congress over the latest security debacle at the Los
Alamos weapons lab. Appropriately so. The department
is incapable of stopping the theft and exploitation of
secrets related to development, testing and
maintenance of America's nuclear arsenal. ... The
failures fall squarely on Los Alamos where a
scientific community obviously views security as an
issue for military weenies and ... spy chasers.
Inventory, control and audit systems are a joke to the
Ph.Ds in the lab. Taxpayers ought to be enraged.
Security lapses represent genuine threats to national
security. Secrets are in circulation that could do
the nation harm.
TEXT: The [New York] Daily News is even more
critical, writing:
VOICE: It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know
that something has gone dreadfully wrong with security
in the most sensitive areas of our government. Latest
revelation: Staffers waited more than three weeks to
report that two computer hard drives containing
nuclear secrets had vanished from Los Alamos National
Laboratory. ... Espionage and terrorism remain
constant threats. May we never find out how lethal
such incompetence can prove.
TEXT: From Charleston, South Carolina, The Post and
Courier laments:
VOICE: Once again the Energy Department, and the
Clinton administration, face a huge and troubling
unknown growing out of what appears to have been a
cavalier attitude toward security throughout the
government.
TEXT: And in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, the Tribune-
Review says in its headline "Heads should roll...":
VOICE: And the first should be that of Secretary of
Energy Bill Richardson. ... [At] one time [he] had
been one of the more acceptable members of the
otherwise undesirable Clinton crowd. But he has
performed abysmally in safeguarding our nuclear
secrets. ... Bill Richardson needs to resign.
/// OPT ///TEXT: The Portland [Maine] Press Herald
says the "breach at [the] nuclear lab presents [a]
serious threat," while today's Milwaukee [Wisconsin]
Journal reminds readers this is not the first
security problem.
VOICE: When the Wen Ho Lee scandal broke last year, a
contrite Energy Secretary Bill Richardson vowed to
Congress and the nation that tougher controls would be
imposed at U-S nuclear weapons labs ... Apparently,
those promises contained little but the hot air that
circulates over New Mexico's desert. [Mr.] Lee is the
former Los Alamos scientist who was fired in March
1999 and subsequently charged with mishandling
government secrets. ... On Monday ... officials
disclosed that at the same lab where [Mr.] Lee worked,
two computer hard drives containing detailed nuclear
weapons data disappeared from a supposedly secure
vault ...[were perhaps] lost or misplaced when parts
of the lab were evacuated in May when a forest fire
threatened. ... The F-B-I and Energy Department are
trying to find the missing drives... At least as
important is the need to bring to Los Alamos something
it doesn't seem to have: an attitude that genuinely
respects the need to protect vital information...
TEXT: On that note, we conclude this sampling of
editorial comment on the latest security breach at the
Los Alamos nuclear research laboratory.
NEB/ANG/KL
15-Jun-2000 13:13 PM EDT (15-Jun-2000 1713 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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