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U.S. Energy Department Widens Work Halt
The U.S. Energy Department on Friday ordered classified work to stop at up to two dozen facilities throughout the country following the disappearance earlier this month of two computer disks at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, according to the Associated Press (see GSN, July 23). The “stand-down” of operations using “controlled removable electronic media [CREM]” that contain classified nuclear weapons research material was needed to gain better control over those disks, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said. The stand-down will continue until a CREM inventory is conducted and enhanced security measures are established, energy spokesman Joe Davis said, adding that employees who use the disks will have to undergo security training. “While we have no evidence that the problems currently being investigated are present elsewhere, we have a responsibility to take all necessary action to prevent such problems from occurring at all,” Abraham said in a statement. Affected facilities include the Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico and the nuclear weapons plant at Oak Ridge, Tenn. (Associated Press/Washington Post, July 24). Meanwhile, Los Alamos Director Peter Nanos warned last week that security concerns at the facility could lead to a loss of support and funding from the government and private industry, according to the Albuquerque Journal. Nanos told Los Alamos employees Thursday that the facility could lose up to 20 percent of its revenue next year due to lost work resulting from security and safety scandals. He also said that Los Alamos needed to find and remove those employees who do not take security seriously. “If I have to restart this laboratory with 10 people — if I have 10 solid people left in this laboratory — I will rebuild this laboratory,” Nanos said. Senator Pete Domenici (R-N.M.), considered to be a strong Los Alamos supporter, publicly released a letter Thursday critical of the facility, according to the Journal. “Today, in Washington, Los Alamos’ reputation as a crown jewel of science is being eclipsed by a reputation as being both dysfunctional and untouchable,” Domenici wrote. “I do not yet know if the most recent security incident is, unto itself, of great consequence. But I can tell you that the analogy of the straw that breaks the camel’s back is appropriate,” he added (Adam Rankin, Albuquerque Journal, July 23).
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