Los Alamos National Laboratory officials have discovered in recent weeks that secret information at the nuclear weapons facility was repeatedly transmitted over an unclassified e-mail system, reports the Los Angeles Times.
Officials at the New Mexico lab confirmed Sunday that the incidents were reported to Energy Department headquarters in Washington, and said that they were taking measures to improve security and "prevent significant risks to national security", the paper said.
Last week, the lab's director disclosed that two disks containing classified nuclear weapons information were lost. The disks contained information about a possible test or experiment the lab was conducting, said the article.
'The breakdown marks yet another case of lax internal security at the lab, which is run by the University of California. In one other instance, at least two computer disks containing sensitive weapons information were discovered missing July 7 from the facility,' the Los Angeles Times said.
Top Energy Department officials arrived at the lab Sunday to begin an investigation of the problems, which had prompted an indefinite suspension Friday of all lab activities. Among other items, the officials are planning to examine a report that 19 electronic storage devices with classified data are also missing, according to a lab memo dated Thursday.
According to the Times, 'the latest security crisis comes after more than a decade of turmoil at the lab and general management failures that have also included financial fraud, violations of nuclear safety and the illegal firing of employees who blew the whistle on potential problems.'
The improper use of e-mail "goes to the heart of why we are suspending activities here," said James Fallin, director of public affairs at the lab. "It is a lack of attention to detail. It is exactly why lab director [Pete] Nanos has said we are going to stop everything."
Speculation has grown that the flurry of security breakdowns may involve a problem with US warheads, although Los Alamos officials strongly disputed recent allegations by a former scientist at the lab who said there were defects in one bomb design, the article said.
"The lab is absolutely certain about the reliability of the warheads," Fallin was quoted as saying.
But, in broadening a shutdown of classified work on Thursday to include the entire laboratory on Friday, G. Peter Nanos, the laboratory's director, cited safety and environmental concerns as well as security issues, said The New York Times.
According to the article, 'the latest injury occurred Wednesday, two days before the shutdown, when a 20-year-old woman suffered eye damage from a laser beam. The woman, a student intern who was not identified, had just finished working on a series of experiments involving a pulsed ultraviolet laser, but lingered in the laboratory.'
'Half an hour later, she complained of blurry vision in her left eye, and it was discovered that the laser had not been turned off. She suffered bleeding at the back of her eye from a lesion one-fiftieth of an inch wide, and arrangements are being made to fly her to Johns Hopkins medical center in Baltimore for treatment, The New York Times quoted an official as saying.
