Los Alamos Stops Work in Crisis Over Lost Data

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By KENNETH CHANG

Published: July 17, 2004


eflecting the crisis at Los Alamos National Laboratory since the disappearance of two computer storage devices with classified data, its director stopped all research activities last night and said all employees would review safety and security policies.

In a memorandum to employees, the director, G. Peter Nanos, said he was expanding a suspension announced on Thursday from just classified work to all work at Los Alamos, one of the nation's two nuclear weapons research laboratories.

"I'm simply convinced that we need time to reflect on our shared responsibilities and on how we do our jobs," Mr. Nanos wrote.

Departments are to return to work after managers review security and safety with each employee.

The laboratory is also continuing to inventory 40,000 data storage devices with classified data.

Los Alamos has been under close scrutiny for years because of managerial and security lapses. Officials said the disappearance last week indicated that some employees retained lax attitudes on security.

The University of California, which has managed Los Alamos since it was created 61 years ago to build the atomic bomb, could soon lose the contract.

The Energy Department decided last year to invite competing bids and will soon put out a request for proposals.

"Frankly, nobody understands how we have gotten ourselves into this mess," Mr. Nanos said in his memorandum. "I emphasized to everyone I met with that this willful flouting of the rules must stop, and I don't care how many people I have to fire to make it stop. If you think the rules are silly, if you think compliance is a joke, please resign now and save me the trouble."

A parade of officials will descend on the laboratory next week. Deputy Energy Secretary Kyle E. McSlarrow and Linton Brooks, administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration, will arrive on Monday to oversee the inquiry, accompanied by Representative Joe L. Barton, the Texas Republican who is chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Representative Diana DeGette, Democrat of Colorado, a member of the panel.

Dr. Robert C. Dynes, president of the University of California, and Gerald L. Parsky, chairman of its Board of Regents, also plan to visit soon.

The university official who oversees Los Alamos said yesterday that the disappearance of the devices could be a national security problem. He refused to be more specific.

"We're doing a risk analysis of the material," said the official, Bob Foley, vice president for laboratory management at the university, which manages Los Alamos and Livermore, the nation's two nuclear weapons laboratories, under a contract with the Energy Department.

Officials have refused to describe the missing information, saying just that it involves an experiment in the weapons physics division. They have also declined to specify the type of the missing devices, which could be floppy disks, CD-ROM's, memory cards or other removable media.

Mr. Foley acknowledged that the security lapse damaged the university's chances of retaining its Los Alamos contract. After finding that some employees had misused laboratory money, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham decided in April 2003 that the department would put the contract up for competitive bidding for the first time.

"This erodes your position, without any question at all," Mr. Foley said. "It's about as bad as it could be when you're trying to prepare for a re-competition."

The contract runs through September 2005. The University of Texas and Lockheed Martin are among those that have expressed interest in competing for the contract.

Mr. Foley said that the research credentials at Los Alamos remained impeccable, but that employees might have become complacent about security and business practices. "The science and technology has always been good," he said. "They just got too comfortable."

Officials at Los Alamos discovered the loss of the devices on July 7 in preparing for an experiment. In addition, two other devices containing data related to the experiment were briefly thought to be missing as well, but were found in a few hours.

"Those items were, in fact, never missing," Kevin Roark, a spokesman for the laboratory, said. But, he added, "It appears that procedures weren't strictly followed."

Mr. Foley said that 11 employees had access to the devices and that all 11 were under investigation.

In remarks on Thursday at a meeting of the University of California regents, Mr. Nanos called the employees who disregarded the rules "cowboys" and promised to change the prevailing culture.

Los Alamos is reducing its removable computer media devices holding classified data by destroying old data and reclassifying information that does not need to be kept secret. The laboratory has 40,000 items with classified data, down from 90,000 last year. Within a few months, the items will be consolidated at central libraries, Mr. Foley said.