Classified Disks Missing From Los Alamos Lab

The director of Los Alamos National Laboratory announced Friday that the nuclear weapons research lab had lost track of two computer disks containing classified information, the third such incident in eight months.

Los Alamos officials, who said after each of the previous incidents -- in May and December -- that the missing materials posed no threat to national security, made no such statement Friday, instead describing the loss as “very serious.”

Kevin Roark, a spokesman for the New Mexico lab, said he could not comment on the nature of the materials, except to say they were “classified removable electronic media,” the lab’s term for CDs and floppy disks.

The previous two incidents might have involved faulty bookkeeping for outdated disks that were listed as missing but might actually have been destroyed. Roark said this incident involved data necessary for current research.

“These items were not slated for destruction. These items were needed, and when they went to look for them, they weren’t there,” he said.

Director Peter Nanos said in a statement that the loss, discovered Wednesday, had “once again ... brought disrepute to Los Alamos.” He ordered operations in the affected section of the lab halted while a search for the missing items was conducted.

The announcement of the missing disks marks yet another security breach -- and another embarrassment -- for the University of California, which manages Los Alamos for the federal government.

Earlier allegations of fraud, security lapses and mismanagement at the lab prompted the Energy Department to announce last year that it would require UC, for the first time, to compete for the contract to run Los Alamos. Congress later ordered that other national lab contracts, including one for a second UC-run facility, Lawrence Livermore in California, be put up for bid.

UC officials said the university had not decided whether to compete. The Los Alamos contract expires in September 2005, and the Livermore agreement about two years later.

A spokesman for the National Nuclear Security Administration, which oversees the weapons facilities for the Energy Department, described the lab’s failure to keep track of classified disks as “intolerable.”

“We are deeply disturbed that employees at Los Alamos ... appear to demonstrate a cavalier attitude fulfilling their obligation to protect national security materials,” spokesman Bryan Wilkes said.

Wilkes said Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, as part of an initiative to increase security at nuclear weapons labs, had recently outlined a plan to eliminate all disks and disk drives from desktop computers used for classified weapons research.

Danielle Brian, who heads a watchdog group often critical of the lab’s management, said her organization had been calling for such action for several years. The Energy Department now “needs to demand that the lab do it immediately,” said Brian, executive director of the Project on Government Oversight.

Roark said the lab discovered that the disks were missing from the weapons physics directorate, where scientists conduct research related to nuclear weapons, computer science and other areas. The discovery was made as researchers prepared for a set of experiments, the nature of which he said he could not disclose.

After an immediate search did not turn up the disks, Nanos ordered a wider search and a partial “stand down” in the weapons physics area, Roark said. The lab has restricted the access of some employees, requiring them to enter the area under escort. The affected employees are those who had access to the missing items, he said.

Nanos said in the statement that those involved could lose their jobs.

“Once again, the failure of individuals to follow prescribed standards and protocols has brought disrepute to Los Alamos,” he said. “As director of this national security laboratory, I want everyone to understand: If you can’t keep track of classified materials, you can’t work here.”