Posted on 02/15/2009 5:58:58 AM PST by yoe
U.S. officials are investigating the disappearance of 67 computers from the Los Alamos nuclear weapons lab in New Mexico, according to a nonprofit group that exposes government misconduct.
Of the missing computers, 13 were lost or stolen in the past year, including 3 taken from a scientist's home last month. A BlackBerry belonging to another worker was lost in a "sensitive foreign country," according to an internal Los Alamos Lab e-mail posted online by the Project On Government Oversight.
The group also posted a letter from the Energy Department's National Nuclear Security Administration rebuking the Los Alamos lab for treating the situation as a property management issue and not as a cybersecurity risk.
The "magnitude of exposure and risk to the laboratory is at best unclear as little data on these losses has been collected or pursued given their treatment as property management issues," the DOE memo says.
The incidents are "garnering a great deal of attention with senior management as well as NNSA (National Nuclear Security Administration) representatives," the Los Alamos Lab e-mail says.
The Associated Press reported this week that a Los Alamos spokesman said the computers may have contained names and addresses but did not have any classified information on them.
I hope those computers used encrypted passwords.
Nothing Chinese hackers won’t crack.
They’re not missing. They were signed out and are circulating amongst our counterparts in China and Iran. They’ll be back when they’ve been mined for appropriate information.
Obama’s fault.
The Chinese have all the top secret nuke plans they need already. It can’t be them. Must be the Iranians.
How stupid can we be ? I take that back I just thought about the election.
“Obamas fault.”
Fortunately for us, the only thing that Obama keeps on the computers at Los Alamos is “Asteroids” and “Minefield.”
Probably already shipped to Red China.....or IRAN!
WTFIIWNM
??? I looked this up and could not find?
What "in the wide world of sports" Is It With New Mexico?
You are right about Richardson. Wonder who will be their fall guy this time. Remember when Clinton sent him out there. The deal was to finger the Chinese born scientist in order to cover up Clinton’s sale of nuclear secrets tp the Chinese. I wonder which of our foreign adversaries paid the Rats for national secrets this time.
My first thoughts exactly. We need to change the past "Bush's fault" comments to just this: "Obama's fault!"
Three? At the same time? Why did he or she have 3 government computers at home? One makes perfectly good sense, but three?
Alternatively, if not at the same time, why was she/he allowed to take the others home after "losing" the first one. Or at least the third after the second went bye-bye.
As to missing computers at LANL, I've said it over and over, and I'll say until I die. All of the various and sundry missing computers, missing hard-drives, thumb-drives, documents, stolen property, foreign spies, and whatever other "Security Problem du'jour" are not indicative of problems with the Security organization at LANL. They are indicative of the consistent failure of LANL, UC and DOE management to allow the Security professionals to enforce their own rules, thus, over the long term, embedding a Security-resistant culture.
You can have the most stringent, robust security program on earth (and in some respects they actually do), and if the general population of Brilliant Idiot PhD’s are consistently allowed to flaunt them at will because of the "value of their work", Security will lose every time.
Unfortunately, the Press loves to label it a “Security” problem, when it's really a “coddled and entitled Scientists lacking self disclipline and respect for the rules” problem. I personally got tired of beating my head against that wall, and left for a place with a culture that at least takes Security more seriously. Funny, you never see their name in the paper.
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