- The Los Alamos National Laboratory is searching for 10
missing computer disks containing classified information about other country's
nuclear programmes; a further case of sensitive information going astray
at the US government's nuclear weapons' research establishment in New Mexico.
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- Its spokesman, Kevin Roark, said the missing disks posed
"no threat to national security" and had probably been destroyed
without the proper documentation.
-
- They contained classified and non-classified material
from the Nonproliferation and International Security Centre, which tracks
the attempts of other countries to make nuclear weapons and obtain the
necessary materials to support nuclear weapons programmes.
-
- The disks - nine floppy disks and one large capacity
storage disk - were found to be missing during inventory checks in the
past few weeks.
-
- The lab has informed the US department of energy of their
disappearance.
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- "This situation is totally unacceptable," its
director, Peter Nanos, said in a statement to employees.
-
- "Security is one of our most important jobs; obviously
we now must look deeper into the control of all sensitive information and
solve these problems."
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- Since his recent appointment as director, and in the
light of several prominent security lapses, Mr Nanos has been trying to
make the lab more accountable.
-
- The lab, which produced the first atomic bomb, almost
60 years ago, has been stung by incidents in recent years in which it was
blamed for not keeping track of classified data.
-
- In 1999 and 2000 it came under scrutiny when one of its
scientists, Wen Ho Lee, was accused of removing classified materials from
the lab.
-
- In the resulting trial Mr Lee was found innocent of spying.
-
- Three years ago two computer hard drives went missing
in the section which designs nuclear bombs.
-
- They were found behind a photocopier.
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- Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited
2003
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- http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1104588,00.html
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