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Interesting article from the AP:

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Energy Department should improve safeguards to keep foreign scientists who work at government research labs from gaining unauthorized access to sensitive information, the agency watchdog said in a report Wednesday.
The report said investigators found that foreigners were "assigned to potentially sensitive projects without authorization" or adequate background checks or checks against lists of banned individuals that are kept by other agencies.

The issue of foreigners working at the federal weapons labs has been a sensitive one for years.

"The department and its partners benefit from the exchange of information that results from these collaborations," wrote the department's inspector general, Gregory Friedman. "However, inherent in any foreign collaboration are certain security vulnerabilities."

In an examination of nearly 200 cooperative research projects at three labs - Sandia and Los Alamos in New Mexico and Oak Ridge in Tennessee - auditors found cases in which officials failed to use available security controls when it come to work by foreigners.

"The department expects the national laboratories to take precautionary safeguards to prevent unauthorized disclosure of any information which could adversely affect U.S. security," the report said.

Among the incidents cited was a decision at Los Alamos to assign a Chinese scientist - and later a Russian scientist - for work on a project involving biological sensors without conducting adequate background checks. A Chinese scientist's work in nanotechnology also was cited as raising concerns.

Lists from the Commerce and State department did not flag this research as a potential security problem. A Defense Department list, unchecked by Los Alamos, did classify it as sensitive. The biological sensors provide "early warning tools" against chemical or biological weapons, the report said.

Also cited in the report were:

-A case involving the Oak Ridge laboratory where five foreigners were assigned to sensitive technology research "without evidence of proper authorization." Among them was an Indian scientist who was involved in research considered sensitive by the Defense Department, but not by other agencies. India is a country on the sensitive list.

-At Sandia, security documents for work on classified projects were not promptly submitted for approval.

The report said there was no evidence in lab files to show that in the 198 agreements that were examined, laboratory officials checked people involved in the research with lists of businesses, individuals and countries with whom the lab is prohibited from doing business.

The National Nuclear Security Administration, which oversees the weapons labs, disputed the contention that the Energy Department "as a whole had not adequately controlled access to sensitive technologies" or that it risked compromising sensitive technologies.

"In no case did we discern that laboratory employees were inappropriately assigned to any project cited in the report," wrote Michael Kane, an associate administrator at the security agency. He acknowledged "selected security processes that could be improved."

AP-ES-01-14-04 2004EST

When will we ever learn?????? Earth to the energy department, hellooooo, remember 9-11?

Thanks for the post.

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Energy Department should improve safeguards to keep foreign scientists who work at government research labs from gaining unauthorized access to sensitive information, the agency watchdog said in a report Wednesday. The report said investigators found that foreigners were "assigned to potentially sensitive projects without authorization" or adequate background checks or checks against lists of banned individuals that are kept by other agencies. The issue of foreigners working at the federal weapons labs has been a sensitive one for years.