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DOE Slow to Resolve Nuclear Security Issues, GAO Says By Marina Malenic WASHINGTON — The U.S. Energy Department’s efforts to increase security at U.S. nuclear installations since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks have been slow and insufficient, according to a report released Wednesday by the General Accounting Office (see GSN, May 7). The report concludes that the department took almost two years after the attacks to develop a new design basis threat (DBT), a classified document that identifies, among other information, the potential size and capabilities of terrorist forces. The extended time needed to develop the document was due to delays in developing an intelligence assessment of the terrorist threat to nuclear weapon facilities, as well as a lengthy review process for developing policy within the department, the GAO report states. Disagreements within the department and with other agencies on the size of the threat and the availability of resources to meet it also delayed preparation of the design basis threat, the report adds. The report also says that, while the May 2003 document assesses the terrorist threat as larger than previously estimated, it still does not match the threat level identified by the intelligence community’s Postulated Threat. The DBT report has in the past been based on the Postulated Threat. The General Accounting Office concluded that, because it might take several years to upgrade security at some nuclear sites to counter the terrorist threat, these sites should be considered to be at a higher risk. The Energy Department should take a series of security actions as quickly as possible to mitigate these risks, the office recommended. Linton Brooks, administrator of the department’s National Nuclear Security Administration, acknowledged that terrorist attacks remain a concern, but defended the department’s security programs last month during a hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Oversight Subcommittee. “Today, no nuclear weapons, special nuclear material or classified materials are at risk anywhere within the nuclear weapons complex,” Brooks said, as reported by Agence France-Presse. Glenn Podonsky, director of the office of security and safety performance at the department, said he is hopeful that the agency can implement new security guidelines announced Friday by Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham (see GSN, May 7). “I am guardedly optimistic that the department will be able to carry them through,” Podonsky said, as reported by UPI.
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