In Online Slip, Nuclear Sites Make Rounds

[Frank Booth]

Source: NY Times

The federal government mistakenly made public a 266-page report, its pages marked “highly confidential,” that gives detailed information about hundreds of the nation’s civilian nuclear sites and programs, including maps showing the precise locations of stockpiles of fuel for nuclear weapons.

The publication of the document was revealed Monday in an online newsletter devoted to issues of federal secrecy. That publicity set off a debate among nuclear experts about what dangers, if any, the disclosures posed. It also prompted a flurry of investigations in Washington into why the document had been made public.

On Tuesday evening, after inquiries from The New York Times, the document was withdrawn from a Government Printing Office Web site.
----
The information, considered sensitive but not classified, was assembled for transmission later this year to the International Atomic Energy Agency as part of a process by which the United States is opening itself up to stricter inspections in hopes that foreign countries, especially Iran and other states believed to be clandestinely developing nuclear arms, will do likewise.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/03/us/03nuke.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss&src=igw

[frog92969]

1. WTF?

It would be so nice to have smart people in the government for a change.
They seem to especially have a real problem using computers.

[RedSock]

2. a mistake ---- sure

just like the us military "forgot" to guard hundreds of tons of ammo/explosives in iraq.

like fdr said, nothing happens by accident.

[No Elephants]

17. FDR or Freud? Whoever it was has never been in my kitchen!

[Richd506]

3. Kind of like that one time when that bomber mistakenly transported a nuclear missile

[bananas]

4. It was posted by FAS on Monday

FAS posted it Monday on their security blog.
Looks like cryptome picked it up from them.
http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2009/06/nuclear_sites.html
http://cryptome.org/

[phusion]

6. wikileaks

http://www.wikileaks.org/wiki/Obama_IAEA_nuclear_sites_declaration_for_the_United_States%2C_draft%2C_267_pages%2C_5_May_2009

[Algorem]

5. cheney mole

embarrass obama on national security

[jmondine]

9. Or even worse...

... make it more likely we'll see that "I told you so" moment that Cheney's whole legacy, and possibly his defense, depends on.

[truedelphi]

7. Meanwhile in other controversies, we cannot have some lousy photos

Published.

What is wrong with this scenario??

[Canuckistanian]

8. Different agenda

This leak sounds like a Cheney left-behind deal, intended to embarrass Obama.

The pics are controlled by the Pentagon and the administration.

[truedelphi]

14. I knew that, but it is

A tad bit ironic, isn't it?

Sidebar -- Jeremy Rifkin points out that just as the stock market collapsed in 1987, due in large part to the computer programs running analyses of the market, and no human intervention to stave off the computers' misguided perceptions, so now many of our missiles will be fired whenever the computers give the go ahead. With little in the way any human can do to intervene.

Most of us no longer think of nuclear Armageddon as being a possibility. But things like the nuke report being "outed" (as you say, perhaps by a Cheney mole) do give one pause.

A great deal of it, in fact.

[Canuckistanian]

15. You know, I'm far less concerned about nuclear war

Than I am about the creeping authoritarianism and the almost complete subversion of government representatives by corporate interests.

If you've never seen the documentary "Why We Fight", see it. It sure tied a lot of things together for me.

[truedelphi]

18. I am now about half way through said documentary.

Thank you for pointing me to it.

[pinniped]

10. Darth Cheney has to have his claws in this.

For the past few weeks that asshole's been all over the airwaves talking smack.

That little fucker's made more appearances in a month than he did in 8 fucking years.

Asshole.

Page 1 starts out with MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. It's fairly obvious who they want the blame to fall on.

[kpete]

11. Federal Gov't Accidently Posts 'Sensitive' List of U.S. Nuclear Sites

Source: ABC

Federal Gov't Accidently Posts 'Sensitive' List of U.S. Nuclear Sites
Information Was Unclassified, Not Part of the Military Weapons Program, Agency Says
By MEGAN CHUCHMACH
June 3, 2009


A 266-page report detailing the country's government and civilian nuclear facilities and commercial nuclear power reactors was accidently posted online by the federal government last month, describing not only nuclear site locations but also their activities and stored fuel for nuclear weapons.

The Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee is one of the nuclear facilities described in a 266-page report detailing the country's government and civilian nuclear facilities and commercial nuclear power reactors. The report was accidently posted online by the federal government last month.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu said the disclosure is "of great concern" at a House of Representatives hearing today as he referenced a uranium storage facility in Tennessee. "We will be looking hard and making sure physical security of those sites (at Y-12) is sufficient to prevent ecoterrorists and others getting hold of that material," Chu said.

The information, some of which was reportedly marked "highly confidential safeguards sensitive," was unclassified, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said Wednesday, and was not part of the military weapons program.

The report was posted in May until being removed yesterday after Secrecy News, an online newsletter from the Federation of American Scientists' Project on Government Secrecy, reported the mistake Monday.



Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=7747573&page=1

[rateyes]

12. Hell, I knew that about Oak Ridge 40 years ago.

That place was partially responsible for the bombs dropped in Japan.

[angstlessk]

13. here is something I posted a couple of days ago regarding something else that 'got by'

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5773930&mesg_id=5774016

It is the cheeeeeney 'left behinds' I do believe doing the damage. Not that Obama is perfect, and if it happened with the boosh admin, I would think they wanted a strike for their agenda...well, there are still boosh 'left behinds' and for sure cheeeeney wants a fresh strike so he can say 'i told ya so'!

[hunter]

16. It can't be all that "confidential" going to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

I think some of the places listed haven't been visited by anti-nuclear protesters or nimbys yet, which is what makes the information sensitive.

In general, I'm pretty sure terrorists have more subtle things on their shopping lists -- things like box cutters, flying lessons, rental trucks, and fertilizer. Messing around with nuclear stuff would only increase the odds they'd be caught before they do any damage.

You don't want to scream "Look at me, look at me, I'm a terrorist!" while you are assembling your terrorist tool kit. Messing with nuclear stuff really makes you stand out in a crowd.

The historical secrecy surrounding nuclear technology has only increased the danger of things going wrong. A lot of plain old incompetence, deceitfulness, and grubby old white collar crime hides beneath the "highly confidential" label. In the U.S. a significant number of expensives hush-hush military schemes are nothing more than elaborate money laundering operations. The system is corrupt.

Documents like this should be released to the public.