Nuclear secrets missing?

[techweenie]

Here we go again.

Nuclear Data Found Missing From New Mexico

By H. JOSEF HEBERT, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - An inventory has found another case of missing data involving nuclear weapons, this time at the Energy Department's regional office in Albuquerque, N.M., the department disclosed Thursday.

The Energy Department said that an "accounting discrepancy" involving three copies of a "controlled removable electronic media" — or CREM — was found at the regional office as part of the nationwide inventory of such devices.

The inventory was ordered a month ago after two CREM data devices were reported missing at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, also in New Mexico. The Albuquerque facility, part of the DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration, coordinates activities with the Los Alamos weapons lab.

Bryan Wilkes, an NNSA spokesman, said that the inventory discovered three copies of a single CREM unaccounted for. He declined to elaborate further except to say the device contained information involving nuclear weapons.

NNSA Administrator Linton Brooks said that all classified work involving the computer data storage devices has been halted at the Albuquerque office, pending completion of the investigation.

"I am disappointed that we have found another case of lax procedures in protecting classified information," said Brooks in a statement. (snip)

[campbellcj]

I must say that DOE is amongst the most f*ed up organizations I've ever worked with (as a supplier).

In the 90's, as the Cold War wound down and security was drastically loosened at many of the facilities, there was a sudden increase in asset loss -- or should I say in their euphamistic terms -- "unable to locate" situations. At one of our customer sites, the back gate was literally unmanned and it was eventually discovered that hundreds of items such as tools, laptops and video projectors had disappeared. I believe the total loss was over $40mil in that instance.

They also have a serious "NIH" problem and tend to spend $millions on reinvent-the-wheel projects where commercial solutions are already available in the private sector.

Sandia and Los Alamos are probably the worst managed of all DOE facilities from what I've seen and heard thus far.

Oh well...it's only money...OURS!

[tabs]

The Security at Oak Ridge failed a security test. The company involved in providing that security was fined 200K. It is common knowledge that there is a 70% turnover rate in security forces at the NV test site.

[Superman]

Frankly, the entire "security" industry is packed with low-lifes. I mean, the guys who wear police-looking uniforms and who physically monitor and guard facilities. Wages are pi$s-poor and so is the quality of labor. They are the dregs of the labor force. Generally speaking.

[techweenie]

Well, i wa just curious, since some of our "conservative" friends blamed Bill Clinton for a prior problem at Los Alamos, how they were going to make this problem his responsibility...

Frankly, I just think it's incredibly stupid policy for a top secret agency to be running around with data on Zip disks.

If you really want security, you eliminate all removable media.

Again, it looks like we have people in charge who are ignorant about computers...

[fintstone]

Most of the problems I see with the DOE lab folks I deal with are a result of the culture change (by Clinton appointees) that treated these organizations as academic rather than military industrial complex.

If you eliminate removeable media...how do you economically move the information/data from room-to-room, building-to-building, state-to-state?

[Moneyguy1]

Room to room within the same facility: Dedicated hard wire crypto protected.

Facility to facility can be dedicated hardwire, can be microwave, can be courier; all crypto.

Floppies and CD type discs (especially the miniature ones) that are not affected by magnetic scanners are just too damn easy to transport.

As technology "improves", protection of data will become increasingly difficult.

[fintstone]

That seems way too expensive! Seems to me that having them follow the rules or go to prison is the answer. Military folks use the same mechanisms and do not seem to have these problems. Of course, they are subject to court martial. A little discipline would go a long way.

[Mulholland]

Immediately imprison anybody in a sensitive job that votes or was appointed by a Democrat.