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Re: U.S. Nuke Labs' Security Facing Review
Unfortunately, this is one more case of DOE meeting my expectations.
What really bothers me are the cases where sensitive keys were lost or
missing, but not reported for several days, even for weeks. While you can't
expect people to never lose keys, it is reasonable to expect that an
individual entrusted with access to sensitive information will promptly
report any potential security breaches, such as lost keys or keycards. If
compensatory measures are implemented promptly, the security impact is
minimal. The real problem is when the problem sits uncorrected for an
extended time.
I suspect that there is a "shoot the messenger" mentality which promotes
coverups of mistakes.
They still don't get it.
The opinions expressed are strictly mine.
It's not about dose, it's about trust.
Curies forever.
Bill Lipton
liptonw@dteenergy.com
Gerry Blackwood wrote:
> U.S. Nuke Labs' Security Facing Review
> Sat Jan 3, 9:04 AM ET
>
> By JOHN HEILPRIN, Associated Press Writer
>
> WASHINGTON - Worries about missing keys and other
> security lapses at some of the nation's top-secret
> nuclear weapons labs have prompted the federal agency
> that maintains the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile to
> review locks, keys and procedures at facilities
> nationwide.
>
> The Energy Department's semiautonomous National Nuclear
> Security Administration, which oversees nuclear weapons
> programs within the department, is sending a team of
> inspectors to launch the security review in February.
> The action follows NNSA initiatives last summer, after
> some in Congress complained about specific security
> breaches at several facilities.
>
> "We have completed a complexwide inventory of locks and
> keys. The idea now is not to go over (again) every lock
> and key, but to sit down and review with folks the
> controls that were put in place last summer," Bryan
> Wilkes, an agency spokesman, said Friday. "We want to
> make sure security violations, whether they're large or
> small, don't happen again."
>
> In July, the NNSA announced new plans to reinforce
> safeguards with added security experts, more frequent
> surveillance, a review of past studies and
> investigations and creation of a commission and
> separate panel for more long-range planning.
>
> The NNSA is responsible for maintaining the U.S.
> nuclear weapons stockpile, for promoting international
> nuclear nonproliferation and for providing nuclear
> propulsion systems for the Navy's submarines and
> aircraft carriers.
>
> Wilkes said the most recent case of missing keys
> involves NNSA's plant for processing weapons-grade
> uranium in Oak Ridge, Tenn. Last summer, he said, the
> facility reported missing "a little under 250" keys,
> but that "none of them were for any sensitive areas."
>
> He said most "were to janitorial areas or to file
> cabinets; simple things that people lose keys to every
> day."
>
> "A small portion of that — under 40 — went to people's
> offices or to a conference room where you can have
> classified information for up to an hour," Wilkes said.
> "It was limited to two buildings, and those buildings
> were completely re-keyed."
>
> A set of master keys went missing for several days at
> Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, N.M., and
> an electronic key card was gone for six weeks before
> top managers were informed at the Lawrence Livermore
> National Laboratory in Livermore, Calif. A set of keys
> to perimeter gates and office doors also was lost at
> Livermore and went unreported for three weeks.
>
> Sandia is expecting a review. Chris Miller, a spokesman
> for Sandia, said Friday the lab was advised a couple of
> weeks ago "that DOE probably was going to be visiting
> early in the new year just to look at security again.
> There are always ongoing looks at security."
>
> The inventory also is being conducted at other NNSA
> offices, plants and nuclear research labs in Missouri,
> Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and
> Texas.
>
> ___
>
> Associated Press reporters Sue Major Holmes in
> Albuquerque, N.M., and Duncan Mansfield in Knoxville,
> Tenn., contributed to this report.
>
> ___
>
> On the Net:
>
> National Nuclear Security Administration:
> http://www.nnsa.doe.gov
>
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