US government loses nuke computers

Life

The Los Alamos nuclear laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico has lost 67 computers, 13 of those in the last year.
The figures came to light after Project on Government Oversight (POGO), a public body designed to cut government waste, leaked an internal memo detailing the losses. In one case in January three computers were stolen from the home of a Los Alamos scientist.

“This Department of Energy (DOE) memo shows that the Lab admits that 67 computers are currently ‘missing’, and that 13 have been lost or stolen in the past year alone,” says Danielle Brian, executive director of POGO. “It is troubling that the contractor only informed the government of this during investigations into the most recent thefts.”

The Los Alamos Site Office (LASO) also expressed frustration in the memo that the laboratory was treating the matter as an issue of physical security rather than as a matter of cyber-security.
Other losses detailed in the report include a Los Alamos employee lost their BlackBerry, possibly containing classified information, was lost in a ” sensitive foreign country.”

“It’s great to see that the federal overseer is more aggressively pursuing its oversight role,” says Peter Stockton, POGO senior investigator.

“But, the true test of how rigorous the government will be in holding the Lab to high security standards will be whether LASO significantly cuts LANL’s contract performance fees for FY09.”

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