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Re: U.S. Nuke Labs' Security Facing Review
Evidently, security did not have control or the keys! If they did then all
of them should be replaced. I have seen large institutional and research
organizations keep security personnel out of the loop, feeling it was better
to have a smaller number of people with access to sensitive information,
thus leaving security in the hands of researchers. Now, we all know how
caring and obedient to extraneous rules researchers are? I would even
venture to guess that at some DOE facilities security officers can't even
access certain areas and are not aware of the security controls in place.
Dean Chaney
----- Original Message -----
From: "William V Lipton" <liptonw@DTEENERGY.COM>
To: "Gerry Blackwood" <gpblackwood@justice.com>
Cc: <radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, January 06, 2004 8:00 AM
Subject: 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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