Los Alamos Nuclear Secrets Missing

Source: MSNBC.Com
Published: 6/12/2000 Author: Robert Windrem, Pete Williams, Jim Miklaszewski and Andrea Mitchell, MSNBC?s Tom Curry and The AP

Los Alamos nuclear secrets missing

WASHINGTON, June 12 ? Locked away in a vault, a batch of computer-held nuclear secrets ? some detailing how to render nuclear devices harmless in an emergency situation ? have disappeared at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The embarrassing discovery of the missing data, coming on the heels of espionage disclosures and a devastating wildfire at the laboratory, kicked off a top-level investigation, officials disclosed Monday.

SENIOR U.S. OFFICIALS told NBC News that the missing secrets include America?s plans for countering nuclear terrorism ? and that, if they fall into the wrong hands, it could be devastating.

The secret material was contained in hard drives and discs in containers in a vault in Los Alamos? most highly classified area, the so-called ?X Division,? where designers of nuclear weapons do their work. Sources told NBC News the discovery was first made two months ago ? well before the fire that forced employees to evacuate Los Alamos in May.

The hard drives contain data pertaining to the government?s Nuclear Emergency Search Team, which responds to nuclear accidents and terror threats. The missing information was used to make nuclear devices safe in emergencies. There was also material regarding Russian nuclear programs.

WHAT?S MISSING

The NEST team is prepared to respond to two kinds of possible nuclear terror threats: An actual nuclear device, though experts consider it unlikely that any terrorist will ever be able to build, obtain or deploy one; and a radiological dispersal device, in which radioactive material is packed around a bomb.

A senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told NBC?s Robert Windrem that the Energy Department has provided details of the missing material to the CIA for ?technical assistance? and ?damage assessment.?

Asked how he would describe the potential loss if the materials were found to have fallen into unfriendly hands, the official said: ?You could say it would be devastating.?

However, the official added that there is no evidence of any espionage and noted the continuing problems with sloppy record keeping at Los Alamos and the rest of the labs.

?The indicators [of espionage] are just not there,? Ed Curran, DOE?s director of counterintelligence, told the Associated Press. He noted that two identical drives, containing the same material, disappeared when someone seeking the information for espionage likely would have taken only one.

More likely, he added, the drives ?were either misplaced, misused or accidentally destroyed.?

A person familiar with the status of nuclear secrets at Los Alamos told NBC?s Windrem the biggest problem with the lab?s security is bad record keeping. The labs, that person said, do not always know where material is at any one time.

That, he said, is the difference between material that is described as ?missing? and material that is sloppily handled, or not returned to its proper location because of negligence. There is ?tons of stuff? moved around the lab and a lot of co-mingling of materials from research that is both classified and nonclassified.

SEARCH TIMELINE

Los Alamos officials were sure the information had been in place in March, a month before it was noticed missing, Windrem reported. They then began a search for it, but did not tell federal authorities for months.

On June 1, the lab informed the Energy Department of the problem. The next day, the Energy Department informed the FBI. The FBI then sent a large team out to Los Alamos to begin the investigation. At the same time, the CIA was brought in for assistance.

The Energy Department?s new security chief, retired Air Force Gen. Eugene Habiger, told the Associated Press that it is too early to determine what happened to the two hard drives. But he said he has not ruled out the possibility that the materials might have been misplaced or destroyed during the confusion last month caused by the threat from the fire that destroyed much of the community of Los Alamos.

Approximately 8,500 employees were evacuated between May 8 and May 22 at the lab because of the fire. They started returning in phases after May 22. The investigation and search for the material has become more difficult because many of the lab?s scientists left the area last month because of the wildfires. Officials repeatedly have said that all nuclear material was safeguarded and not threatened by the fires.

?Our inquiry has been conducted during a period in which employees are still recovering from the effects of a major emergency disaster,? Habiger said in a statement. ?Part of the laboratory?s rigorous process for resuming operations has included a look at the physical integrity of all its buildings and security systems.?

However, an FBI official told NBC?s Pete Williams that blaming the confusion over the missing data on the fire was similar to saying ?the dog ate my homework.? The official said it was an excuse, and the information was missing well before the fire.

Curran and Habiger said an intense investigation was continuing, including polygraph tests on all individuals who had any connection with the material. ?This is an extremely serious matter, and we are taking swift actions to deal with it,? said John Browne, director of the federal weapons research lab in New Mexico. Browne said in a statement that ?certain and appropriate? disciplinary action would be taken ?if the inquiry reveals that individuals did not fulfill their responsibilities? in safeguarding the material.

?ANOTHER BLACK MARK?

Robert Ebel, director of the Energy Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., told MSNBC.com that the news of the missing material was ?another black mark for Los Alamos, coming so soon after fire losses estimated at $300 million or so. Unfortunately, the circumstances described lead me to believe that no early resolution may be in the offing.?

?Nonetheless,? Ebel added, ?one must wonder about security at government facilities today, whether at Los Alamos or at the Department of State. Is it just a run of bad luck, that materials ? and laptops ? have been just misplaced? Or are we being taken to the cleaners by foreign intelligence operations??

A key senator called Monday for a congressional investigation into the missing material. ?When people treat items of a highly classified nature just like it?s ordinary stuff, something?s wrong,? Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, told NBC News.

The report is the latest in a series of major embarrassments for the Los Alamos laboratory and the Department of Energy. In addition to the fires, former employee Wen Lo Hee was charged last year with mishandling secret files at Los Alamos amid suspicions that he passed nuclear-weapons secrets to China.

Lee was arrested in December and awaits trial. Although under investigation for three years in connection with the alleged loss of U.S. nuclear secrets to China, Lee has not been charged with espionage.

A member of the legal team defending Wen Ho Lee told NBC News he was pleased to hear that there were more missing tapes at Los Alamos, since his client is charged with downloading similar weapons data and being unable to account for it, and indicated he thought it would advance his case.

NBC News? Robert Windrem, Pete Williams, Jim Miklaszewski and Andrea Mitchell, MSNBC?s Tom Curry and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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