Closure of Interior Department Web Sites Ordered

All the Internet and computer connections of the U.S. Department of the Interior were ordered shut down by a federal judge Thursday who was ruling in a case challenging the security of government Web sites.

One immediate effect was a nearly total blackout of earthquake-monitoring sites, federal officials say.

John Filson, director of the U.S. Geological Survey’s national earthquake hazards reduction program, said that if a major quake struck, neither the public nor the media would be able to find out about it on the customary Web sites.

The Geological Survey is part of the Interior Department and thus was affected by the court order of U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth in Washington, D.C.

Filson said some information could still be disseminated by telephone. For several years now, however, most earthquake information has been more quickly accessible on Web sites of the Interior Department.

Also affected are tsunami warning sites in Alaska and Hawaii that report on the seismic sea waves throughout the Pacific basin. These sites belong to the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration.

Aides said that even some internal e-mail communications in the Interior Department were cut off pursuant to the judge’s order.

Lamberth’s ruling came in response to a lawsuit by Indian tribes seeking to close down Interior Department computer sites on grounds that they are so insecure that outside parties have been able to break in and change the dollar amounts of grants designated by the department’s Indian Trust program.

Filson said that about noon Thursday, one result of the judge’s order was to shut down the Web sites that show--as soon as they occur--which quakes have struck, their magnitudes and locations.

“I’m concerned that routine information we have been making available will no longer be accessible,” Filson said.

Attempts to access this information were mostly unsuccessful later Thursday. Earthquake maps still appeared, but information about specific quakes could not be downloaded.

Neither a clerk in Judge Lamberth’s office nor attorneys who have handled the case were available Thursday to elaborate on the ruling.