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Los Alamos National Laboratory Never Lost Secret Data Last Year, U.S. Energy Department Says
The Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico did not lose two classified computer disks as had once been feared, according to results of a U.S. Energy Department investigation released Friday (see GSN, Jan. 24). While the report mentions severe security weaknesses at the facility and harshly criticizes the University of California, which has managed Los Alamos for 60 years, officials said two classified computer disks believed to be missing since last summer never existed, the Los Angeles Times reported. Instead, although security bar codes were produced, the disks were never issued. The department also announced that it had slashed the university’s Los Alamos management fee by $5.1 million — nearly two-thirds of its 2004 fee of $8.7 million, according to the Times. “The cultural weaknesses revealed by this investigation are severe and must be corrected,” the report says. “The root cause of the problems was a widespread … disregard for safety and security.” Security and safety problems that led to the shutdown of most of the laboratory’s work have been corrected, and most operations have resumed, according to Los Alamos and university officials. “We got walloped,” said UC spokesman Chris Harrington. “Unfortunately, we deserve this, but what we have done is correct the problems and put systems in place so we don’t take this type of hit again” (Trounson/Vertabedian, Los Angeles Times, Jan. 29). Meanwhile, members of Congress, watchdog groups and others have recommended that the National Nuclear Security Administration adopt safeguards to guarantee existing benefits for Los Alamos workers, independent evaluations of the facility’s research and more stringent oversight of health and safety as the agency evaluates bids on the laboratory’s management contract, the Associated Press reported. More than 200 pages of questions and comments has been provided to an NNSA board regarding a draft request for proposals released last month, an agency spokesman said. “They’re analyzing each of the comments. Then they’ll decide whether they want to amend the (request for proposals) based on that analysis,” said Al Stotts, a spokesman for the Albuquerque NNSA office (Leslie Hoffman, Associated Press, Jan. 31).
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