Changes Urged for Nuke Lab Security

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@earthlink.net>]

Changes Urged for Nuke Lab Security

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. (AP) - Scientists at Los Alamos National 
Laboratory will have to undergo a cultural change if security is to 
improve at the nuclear weapons facility, lab officials said Monday. 

The lab has instituted security upgrades following the two-month 
disappearance of two classified hard drives from a vault at the top-
secret X Division, said John Tucker, the lab's deputy director of 
security. 

Even so, lab scientists will have to change the way they do 
business if future security breaches are to be avoided, Tucker said 
during a briefing with Rep. Tom Udall, D-N.M. 

``When the Manhattan Project created the first (nuclear) weapons, 
the collaborative effort said everyone working had a common need 
to know,'' Tucker said. ``Today, there is a school of thought that 
says `I don't need to know everything about a project.''' 

The lab has been criticized recently for several security breaches 
over the past year, prompting some congressional leaders to call 
for the resignation of Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, whose 
department oversees the lab. 

A grand jury has been convened to look into the disappearance of 
the two computer hard drives. Last month, two 10-year-old floppy 
disks containing classified information were discovered missing, 
then found the next day. In December, former Los Alamos scientist 
Wen Ho Lee was charged with illegally copying top-secret nuclear 
weapons files. He is in jail awaiting trial. 

Tucker said Monday the lab has changed all vault combinations, 
revised procedures for entering and leaving classified areas and 
installed devices that read palm prints before access is granted to 
secure areas. 

Udall, in town to tour rehabilitation work being done to lab property 
burned by the wildfire in May, said he would continue to monitor 
security upgrades at the lab. 

``This is the beginning of the process to have the laboratory 
evaluate this and make recommendations,'' Udall said. 

The greatest challenge for lab security is to get scientists to heed 
security concerns without hindering the scientific process, Tucker 
said. 

For example, he said one scientist may be working on the human 
genome project while another is working on a nuclear weapon 
design. Both may have the same security clearance, but that 
doesn't mean they should share classified information, he said. 

``Just because you have a clearance doesn't grant you a right to 
see all the information in the laboratory,'' he said. ``We're trying to 
further refine it to make sure that the right people doing the right 
things have access to the right information.'' 

Tucker said security breaches can also occur when scientists 
pass along information to one another, especially through 
electronic media such as e-mail. 

``You have to get them to realize not to send information through 
open communication,'' he said. ``They need someone to review it 
and say, `This needs to be encrypted.''' 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sandy Perle					Tel:(714) 545-0100 / (800) 548-5100   				    	
Director, Technical				Extension 2306 				     	
ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Division		Fax:(714) 668-3149 	                   		    
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