- (AFP) -- A dozen keys that enable scientists to enter
off-limits buildings at a top-secret US nuclear weapons laboratory have
been lost presenting a potential security breach, a government inspector
revealed.
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- The critical report, dated Tuesday, by the Department
of Energy's Inspector General Gregory Friedman found a total of twelve
keys are missing from the department's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
in California.
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- Livermore officials had initially estimated it would
cost the taxpayer 1.7 million dollars to replace and upgrade 100,000 locks
in 526 buildings at the site, but government officials have yet to validate
these costs.
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- "The loss of the master keys and the Tesa card,
and the delay in reporting these losses, raised the possibility of security
vulnerabilities at the laboratory," Friedman's report warns.
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- Officials at the top-secret nuclear research facility
reported one set of master keys missing on May 5th, although the keys were
discovered missing on April 17.
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- Due to the national security nature of the laboratory's
work, officials are meant to report a loss of such keys within twenty-four
hours, and master keys are only carried by a small number of personnel
at the site.
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- Friedman's probe also discovered that security officers
had known about some of the missing keys, but had not reported their loss
to the department.
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- The loss for some of the keys only came to light when
a locksmith employee at the site reported that security officers had tried
to get a duplicate set of keys made to replace lost keys.
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- "We concluded that Livermore did not have adequate
internal controls to ensure that security incidents involving missing master
keys and Tesa cards were reported within required timeframes," the
report found.
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- Tesa cards are plastic card-like keys with a magnetic
strip that are also used at the site.
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- The nuclear weapons laboratory is managed for the energy
department by the University of California.
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