Data Found In Drug Raid Contains Weapons-Design Secrets.
The recent security breach at Los Alamos National Laboratory was very serious, with sensitive materials being taken out of the facility — possibly including information on how to deactivate locks on nuclear weapons, officials tell CBS News.
Officials say there is no evidence the information taken from Los Alamos was sold or transferred to anybody else, but there is no way to be sure right now.
As CBS News correspondent Sharyl Attkisson was the first to report, secret documents apparently taken from the lab were found during a drug raid at a Los Alamos-area home last month. The FBI was called in to investigate.
Multiple sources now tell CBS News that the material includes sensitive weapons-design data.
A federal official who has been briefed on the issue said at least three USB thumb-drives were involved. Those small storage drives contained 408 separate classified documents ranging in importance from Secret National Security Information (pertaining to intelligence) to Secret Restricted Data (pertaining to nuclear weapons).
The woman believed to have taken the information — Jessica Quintana, 22, who owned the trailer — worked in three classified vault rooms across Los Alamos:
Safeguards and Security (relating to strategic nuclear material control and accountability)
Physics P-Division.
The woman had top secret "Q-clearance" with access to all the U.S. underground nuclear test data. Additionally, she had "Sigma 15" clearance, which allows her access to info on how to deactivate locks on nuclear weapons. Quintana has not been arrested or charged.
For example, if a terrorist steals an American nuclear weapon, he could not detonate it due to the special access controls. This woman is authorized to read the reports that tell how to get around those safety controls.
I read the link about the AKAL security, and down the thread there is a very interesting article posted:
(the name Quintana may be coincidence, or not; who knows - maybe it's a common Mexican name?)
Not for commercial use. Solely to be used for the educational purposes of research and open discussion.
HOUSING SECURITY GUARD KILLS MAN
Sharyn Obsatz
The Santa Fe New Mexican; MAIN; Pg. A1
February 03, 1995, Friday
A security guard at a low-income housing complex near Espanola shot and killed a 21-year-old Santa Fe man who was yelling at the guard and walking toward him with a shovel in his hands.
Hill said the body had been moved before investigators arrived at the scene
But beyond that fact, accounts differ as to how and why Montes Serrano was fatally shot in the chest at 11 p.m. Wednesday. Serrano, who had just started college, left behind a 2-year-old son and an 18-year-old girlfriend.
State police are continuing their investigation of the shooting at the Santa Fe County housing project in Santa Cruz. No charges have been filed against the Teg Security officer, whose name police have not released.
State police spokesman Dan Hill said investigators believe Serrano was drinking with friends at a neighbor's house and came outside, feeling depressed.
The security guard saw Serrano by a car holding a shovel, Hill said.
He said Serrano began yelling at the security guard and walking toward him. The guard told Serrano twice to stop and drop the shovel, but Serrano continued approaching, Hill said.
Then Serrano hit the shovel on the ground, and the guard fired two shots from a 9mm handgun, one of them hitting Serrano in the chest, Hill said.
He said Serrano was pronounced dead at the Espanola hospital at 11:43 p.m.
Hill said the body had been moved before investigators arrived at the scene, but that an investigating officer estimated that Serrano was seven to 10 feet away from the security guard when he was shot.
Tova Quintana, Serrano's girlfriend, said witnesses told her a different story.
She said Serrano had gone outside and was planning to drive to Santa Fe to visit the grave of Paul Medina, a close friend that Serrano considered his brother. Medina, 20, shot himself to death in November. Quintana and family members said Serrano and Medina had been helping each other set their lives straight after painful childhoods and involvement in a west-side gang.
Quintana said after Serrano went outside Wednesday night, he "did make a threat" to the security guard and was holding a shovel. But she said witnesses told her he wasn't swinging the shovel and was putting it down when the security guard shot him.
Quintana said she ran out to the street, their son in her arms, and saw Serrano on the ground with blood on his chest. Her son started crying. She said she asked the security guard "Where did you shoot him?" and that the guard turned toward her with the gun and told her to "get away."
A Teg Security spokeswoman issued a press release with a third version of the shooting.
When the guard encountered Serrano on a street corner, Serrano was speaking and acting erratically, the spokeswoman said. She said Serrano verbally threatened the guard, and the guard told him to go back into the house for the night.
The spokeswoman said Serrano complied but came out a minute later carrying "a heavy, sharply-pointed shovel." He walked toward the security offi cer even after the guard had drawn his gun and made "repeated requests that he stop his attack," according to the spokeswoman.
Serrano was 10 feet away from the guard when he started "swinging the shovel, threatening the officer's life," the spokeswoman said. When Serrano got within range of hitting the guard with the shovel, the guard "was forced to fire his weapon in self-defense," according to the press release.
"Based on its own investigation, Teg Security has concluded that this tragic shooting was reasonable, justifiable and in self-defense," the spokeswoman said.
"The Teg officer has been with the company for 3 years and is experienced and fully trained for his duties."
Teg Security has a contract with Santa Fe County to provide security for the housing complex. County housing attorney Bill Moyers said the county doesn't have enough information yet on the shooting to decide if they will take any action.
The district attorney's office will wait until the police investigation is completed before deciding whether to file any charges.
Quintana said she will press for a thorough investigation.
Some of Serrano's family and friends think the security guard could have wounded and stopped Serrano without killing him. A shovel is no match for a handgun, several friends said.
Serrano's relatives said they can't believe he would try to hurt anyone without being threatened first.
Serrano's life was difficult, according to those who knew him. He dropped out of school before age 14 but eventually earned his G.E.D.
Serrano and Quintana had just moved with their son to Espanola and enrolled at Northern New Mexico Community College, where Serrano was studying to be an electrician.
He had lived with his uncle Ted's family from age 14 to 18, after he "found himself out on the streets alone," Ted Serrano said.
"He was the most personable young man, respectful in the house, helpful with everything in the house," Ted Serrano said about his nephew.
"He's gone to a better place. His troubles are behind him."
Visitation will be at 4:30 p.m. and the Rosary at 6 p.m. Sunday at Block-Salazar Mortuary in Espanola. Funeral services will be at noon Monday at St. John the Baptist Church in Santa Fe. Interment will follow at 1:30 p.m. at Santa Fe National Cemetery