DATE=6/13/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=CONGRESS / NUCLEAR SECRETS (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-263435
BYLINE=PAULA WOLFSON
DATELINE=CAPITOL HILL
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: An aggressive search is underway to find two
small computer devices that contain U-S nuclear
secrets. The computer parts disappeared from an
American nuclear weapons laboratory. As V-O-A's
Paula Wolfson reports, members of the U-S Congress are
angry about the latest security breach.
TEXT: The Energy Department's security chief left the
search at Los Alamos Nuclear Laboratory to testify on
Capitol Hill.
Eugene Habiger (haa' - bigger) immediately found
himself on the defensive. One by one, republicans and
democrats on a House Commerce Subcommittee voiced
their anger and frustration.
They want to know how the laboratory could lose track
of two computer hard drives that were supposed to be
locked in a vault under tight security. They also
want to know why it took three weeks for word of the
missing equipment to reach Energy Department officials
in Washington.
Mr. Habiger says the department and the Federal Bureau
of Investigation are looking for answers. He says he
does not know how long it will take.
/// HABIGER ACT ///
They begin polygraph (lie detector) examinations
beginning tomorrow. They are moving very, very
aggressively. I cannot give you an end date.
/// END ACT ////
Mr. Habiger offered a chronology of events. He said
the two hard drives were discovered missing on May 7th
by lab officials. At the time, wildfires were moving
rapidly through the Los Alamos area.
/// HABIGER SECOND ACT ///
The decision was made to go into the vault late
that Sunday night as the fire began to burn out
of control. They went into the vault, they
inventoried - and you can inventory the hard
drives by just feeling them, they are a little
bigger than a deck of cards - they could not
feel the hard drives in the locked container.
/// END ACT ///
The Energy Department's security chief said everyone
at the laboratory was so concerned with the fire that
they held off on a full-scale search. Washington
officials were informed on June 1st - one week after
the fire was declared under control.
/// HABIGER THIRD ACT ///
It was life threatening. There was absolutely
no activity except security and fire fighting
that went on in that period, essentially from
the 7th (of May) to the 22nd.
/// END ACT ///
These particular hard drives were designed for use by
a special emergency team, which responds to nuclear
accidents and terrorist threats. Under questioning
from subcommittee members, Mr. Habiger said he did not
believe the disappearance had anything to do with
espionage. He said all the evidence so far indicates
the computer hard drivers were lost or misplaced.
/// HABIGER FOURTH ACT ///
It is my judgement, sir, based on my exposure
over the past week of working fifteen to sixteen
hours a day and being an integral part of the
process.
/// END ACT ///
But the subcommittee was not convinced, and some
lawmakers questioned the quality of the investigation.
Tennessee Republican Ed Bryant said each time there is
a security breach, Department of Energy officials
promise to do better. But he said they treat an
incident at a national nuclear lab no differently than
a local police force would treat a home burglary.
/// BRYANT ACT ///
Given the nature of what's missing here, it is
not a burglary of a home.
/// END ACT ///
The loss of the computer hard drives is just the
latest embarrassment for the Los Alamos laboratory.
Last year, a Taiwanese-American scientist who worked
at the lab was charged with mishandling nuclear
secrets. Win Ho Lee is now in solitary confinement in
a New Mexico prison awaiting trial. He has denied the
charges. (signed)
NEB/PW/KBK
13-Jun-2000 12:53 PM LOC (13-Jun-2000 1653 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
|
Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list
|
|
|
