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Energy Dept. Halts Use of Computer Disks

Posted on: Friday, 23 July 2004, 06:00 CDT

WASHINGTON - The Energy Department, responding to a security scandal at the Los Alamos weapons lab, ordered a halt Friday to classified work at as many as two dozen facilities that use removable computer disks like those missing at the New Mexico lab.

Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said the "stand-down" at DOE operations that use the disks, containing classified material involving nuclear weapons research, was needed to get better control over the devices.

The disks, known as "controlled removable electronic media" or CREM, have been at the heart of an uproar over lax security at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, where work has been stopped as scientists search for two of the disks reported missing on July 7.

Nineteen workers have been suspended, pending the outcome of an investigation into the missing data devices and an incident in which an intern was injured recently in a laser accident.

The missing Los Alamos disks raised concern within the Energy Department about the handling of the devices at other facilities involved in nuclear weapons research, department officials said.

Abraham said he wanted to "minimize the risk of human error or malfeasance" that could compromise the classified nuclear-related information held in the devices that are used at DOE facilities nationwide in nuclear-related work.

"While we have no evidence that the problems currently being investigated (at Los Alamos) 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.

The department declined to identified the sites that will be affected by the work suspensions, beginning Monday.

The directive was sent to all 59 DOE facilities nationwide, but the number actually affected is expected to be "less than two dozen ... but more than 15," said a senior DOE official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The stand-down involves classified work across the government's nuclear weapons complex wherever the CREM storage devices are used, the official said.

It will continue until an inventory of the devices is completed and new control measures on their use is put in place, said DOE spokesman Joe Davis. Employees using the disks also must undergo security training.

"There will be disruptions to ongoing projects," said Davis. "But we view this as a necessary step to make sure that we have a complete accounting."

At many of the facilities nonclassified work will continue and "a lot of stuff will continue to go on," said Davis.

Among the facilities that are preparing for an interruption of classified work are: the Argonne National Laboratory outside Chicago; and the nuclear weapons plant in Oak Ridge, Tenn., and the Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque where a classified disk was missing and was reported found last week.

The directive shutting down research across much of the government's nuclear weapons program comes as officials at Los Alamos continue their search of the most secure areas of the 43-square-mile facility for the two missing disks.

Abraham said more than 2,000 safes and vaults were being examined. Work at the nuclear lab, which created the first atomic bomb, has been suspended for a week.

The missing disks incident was the latest in a series of embarrassments at the New Mexico lab, including security breaches and allegations of mismanagement and theft. The Energy Department has said that for the first time it will put the contract to manage Los Alamos - held by the University of California for 61 years - up for bid when it expires in 2005.

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Energy Department: http://www.doe.gov

Los Alamos National Laboratory: http://www.lanl.gov

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