Posted on 11/29/2006 7:34:18 AM PST by CedarDave
A federal investigator blasted Los Alamos National Laboratory on Tuesday for "non-existent" and "seriously flawed" security in relation to an incident where classified information apparently left the nuclear weapons laboratory.
The government has already spent "tens of millions" to upgrade lab security and undertaken two major cyber-security initiatives, and the lab went into a 2004 shutdown in an effort to fix problems involving the handling of secret data, a report from the U.S. Department of Energy's Inspector General said.
The FBI is investigating how what appears to be classified information left the lab and ended up on a computer flash drive in a Los Alamos mobile home last month. No charges have been filed, but agents have questioned a Pojoaque woman who worked as an archivist for a lab contractor, a defense lawyer has said.
"We found that the security framework relating to this incident was seriously flawed," a report from Inspector General Gregory Friedman to Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said. "Specifically, our review disclosed that: In a number of key areas, security policy was non-existent, applied inconsistently, or not followed; critical cyber security internal controls and safeguards were not functioning as intended; and, monitoring by both laboratory and federal officials was inadequate."
Bodman ordered the inquiry Oct. 26. He said in a Tuesday news release that the department will learn from the incident.
"Regardless of the outcome of the FBI investigation, just the unauthorized removal of the classified material from the lab marks a significant breach of security protocol and of the public trust," Bodman said. "Unfortunately, we cannot correct the errors of the past."
Lab director Michael Anastasio has launched a major effort to improve security internally.
For classified computing, lab managers have removed personal portable electronic storage devices, locked up government-owned portable electronic storage devices, made it physically impossible to move information from a classified to an unclassified system in the same work area and disabled some classified computer ports, among other measures.
And a team has been organized to anticipate future advances in technology "so the laboratory will be better positioned to anticipate and prevent the next generation of security risks," Anastasio said in a Tuesday memo to employees.
Reaction to the report was mixed.
"This is in no way a discovery of a problem -- this is a problem that was discovered years and years ago," said Danielle Brian of the Project on Government Oversight, a nonprofit based in Washington, D.C. "And no one has taken it seriously and shown the leadership to fix it."
Other places in the country handle classified information but don't have these kinds of repeated problems, Brian said.
And the lab still has a "significantly flawed" culture, she said.
"They give lip service to security and believe that security precautions really are just annoyances," Brian said.
Gov. Bill Richardson said he ordered the lab to go to a new security system when he was energy secretary. "If the Bush administration had implemented my plan, this incident would not have occurred," Richardson said via a spokesman.
The report said the data that resides at the lab "reflects its preeminent national security mission." But the recent review showed an inadequate cyber-security environment, the report said.
"This was especially troubling since the department and the National Nuclear Security Administration have expended tens of millions of dollars upgrading various components of the laboratory's security apparatus, including vast expenditures on cyber security," the report reads.
A leading proponent of lab funding overall, U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., expressed confidence in Anastasio.
"I believe Secretary Bodman and lab director Mike Anastasio take these matters seriously and will work to put these recommended reforms in place," Domenici said.
Bodman said he was prohibited by law from releasing the inspector general's full report, which he called serious and comprehensive.
"The report outlines some significant deficiencies and vulnerabilities that need to be addressed," Bodman said. "We will move quickly to do so."
Contact Andy Lenderman at 995-3827 or alenderman@sfnewmexican.com.
What bull crap. Richardson and the Clinton administration have more than a passing responsibility for the problems. Plus the culture at LANL is more like a college campus than a top national lab needing tight security. Lots of PhD's who lose track of the realities of working in a post-cold war world that still has many enemies who wish us harm.
BTTT
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