June 18, 2000
Los Alamos scientists statements probed
By Todd R. Eastham
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Scientists at a key U.S. nuclear weapons
facility have made "contradictory statements" about security
breaches which suggest someone is hiding something -- either
espionage or negligence that could cost them their jobs, a senior
official said Sunday.
Edward Curran, director of the Energy Department's Office of
Counterintelligence, said "several contradictory statements made
by these people (with access to two highly sensitive computer
hard drives) ... tend to indicate they had some knowledge" of how
and why the hard drives disappeared and then reappeared Friday
under suspicious circumstances.
Asked by a television interviewer if he could rule out espionage
at this time, Curran said "absolutely not." He added that the FBI
is treating the room where the hard drives were found "as a crime
scene."
Still, Curran's boss, Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, who
faces pressure from some lawmakers to resign, all but ruled out
espionage in a separate interview with NBC's "Meet the Press."
Noting that all 26 people who had access to the vault in which
the hard drives were kept had been given lie detector tests,
Richardson said, "I believe there has been no espionage. It
doesn't appear the disks left the division."
He blamed the incident on "human error, a mistake..."
Curran said the FBI is putting all of its resources into
determining whether the hard drives were copied, or tampered
with, and "hopefully, we'll have some answers here today."
The "best-case" scenario is the hard drives were misplaced out
of negligence or inattention to security procedures and never
left the secure area at Los Alamos where they were found, said
Curran, speaking on CBS' "Face the Nation."
'TERRIFIED' OF CONSEQUENCES
Under that scenario, the scientist or scientists who misplaced
them may have not come forward because they are "terrified" of
the consequences, he said. A breach of security could lead to
lost jobs or possible criminal prosecution, even if there was no
criminal intent.
"There are contradictory statements being made and there are
several people involved" with access to the hard drives, Curran
said. "We were not even notified of this for three weeks. That in
itself is a major violation of the rules."
Richardson said the three-week lapse "is inexcusable. I am
outraged." He vowed to "get to the bottom of this" lapse.
"I have brought massive, massive security upgrades to the lab,"
he added, upgrading physical security with armed guards, and
computer security with procedures that stop classified
information from being transferred to unclassified computers, as
well as introducing polygraph tests.
While refusing to rule out espionage, Curran also said "there is
no question in my mind this is a cultural question," where
scientists at the facility resist or resent security procedures
and seek to circumvent them.
He cited efforts by researchers to avoid taking polygraph tests
to protect lab security, and to ensure they pass the tests if
they are forced to take them. "We know scientists scheduled to
take the polygraph are preparing to defeat the polygraph," Curran
said.
Speaking on "Fox News Sunday," Deputy Energy Secretary T.J.
Glauthier defended improvements in security at Energy Department
labs over the past year, but conceded "we had not properly
accounted for the human element" and needed to make greater
efforts to "change the culture at these laboratories."
A FEW BAD APPLES
While no evidence of espionage had been uncovered and "the vast
majority are doing their jobs well" at the department, Glauthier
admitted the agency probably harbored "a few bad apples" who had
compromised security out of negligence or, possibly, criminal
intent.
Sen. Richard Shelby, an Alabama Republican and chairman of the
Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, told "Face the Nation"
he found the reappearance of the hard drives tucked behind a
copier highly suspicious. "The FBI had done a rigorous
examination of the room and didn't find anything" in two previous
searches, he said.
The hard drives, which contain what officials describe as highly
sensitive information on nuclear weapons, were found to be
missing when parts of the lab were evacuated after wildfires
threatened the facility last month.
Shelby called on Richardson to resign and said the security
breach at Los Alamos, the second major lapse at the lab
discovered in just over a year, "is just another example of the
lax attitude" toward security in the Clinton administration.
He cited the loss of sensitive laptop computers at the State
Department and the failure to prevent the transfer of secret
documents to an insecure personal computer at the home of a
former director of the CIA.
Shelby, also appearing on "Fox News Sunday, said security
breaches under the Clinton administration are endemic and pose a
continuing threat to the United States and its allies.
Shelby called the failure to guard national secrets a
"malignancy" at the heart of the U.S. government.
Richardson and other officials tried to shift the blame to the
University of California, which conducts research at Los Alamos
and other labs under contract to the Energy Department.
"They are very strong on science. They are a great institution.
But on security ... they haven't done a very good job, " said
Richardson, who said the government might have to sever its
contract with the university.
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