U.S. Nuclear Lab Halts Secret Work; Data Missing

[UpInArms]

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=5684841

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The Los Alamos National Laboratory, a key center for nuclear weapons research, has temporarily ceased all classified work after vital data was reported missing last week from a research area, lab officials said on Thursday.

Such a precaution at Los Alamos, the New Mexico birthplace of the first atomic bomb during World War II, has not occurred in recent memory, lab officials said, highlighting the seriousness of the breach.

...more...

Another first for this incompetent mal-administration.

[htuttle]

1. It seems like the more arrogant our government becomes....

...the sloppier it becomes at the same time. I'm speaking as much about a trend over the last 40 years as over the last 3.

Seems to be a symptom of Imperial Rot.

[bushisanidiot]

2. Gee, I guess it's not so secret, is it?

why would AWOL want this information to be made public? hmmm???

they keep using scare tactics to try to boost AWOL's numbers, but the idiot is still drowning..

give it up, RNC.. we're not buying it.

[Swamp Rat]

10. Yep! The media will run ANY story approved by the aliens lizards.

Don't vote for Bush! He's an alien lizard!

[Massacure]

3. This wouldn't have happened had the U.S. not restarted it's nuclear

program in the first place.

[punpirate]

5. In point of fact...

... the nuclear program never stopped. Clinton did make a condition of that research that underground testing could not be used.

As far back as the early `90s, there were reports that money for fusion reactor research had been diverted to development of ion accelerators and computer modeling of fusion weapons, both of which were used to continue the development of weapons without underground testing (particularly at Sandia Labs, and to a lesser extent at Los Alamos and Lawrence-Livermore).

Even now, there were recent reports that Congress had not funded new, small nuclear weapons production. Less emphasized in those reports was that Congress has appropriated funds for continuing research in those weapons.

I don't think this was politically motivated--if news got out about this, it's plenty serious, and a few very nervous people made the info public. When the lab was facing claims of widespread credit card abuse at the lab, they did their level best to hide the problem--and the extent of the problem. This got out because it's potentially serious.

Future reporting on this story is going to be interesting.

Cheers.

[Massacure]

6. They can test nukes with just computer simulations?

Wow, I never knew that.

[punpirate]

7. Actually, much of the initial work...

... in the Manhattan Project was done on IBM bookkeeping machines, daisy-chained together.

Lots of the calculations necessary are not difficult--rather, they are just long and tedious, so computers are ideal for that purpose.

With the amount of information available today from previous tests and from new modeling software for high-temperature plasmas, etc., I would guess that computer modeling is not only quicker, but cheaper, as well.

Cheers.

[Beetwasher]

4. That's Homeland Security For Ya!

Way to protect the homeland Bushco! Incompetence? Or worse?

[DeepModem Mom]

8. kick

[Hekate]

9. University of California is gonna lose this contract

This is their screw-up -- again. The biggest problem I have with that is the possibility that Bushco will take the facility out of any connection with the public domain (I know what Los Alamos does is top secret, but UC is a public university, so there's some element of scrutiny and oversight) and "privatize" the operations. Privatize -- but we'll still be paying for it.

Hekate

[Charles19]

11. Hate to be the Conspiracy Nut but...

some data, maybe a CD goes missing and they go and tell the press about it?

Sounds to me like more turning up the heat. All of this is suppose to get everyone scared before election time. I have to say I am not buying a bit of it. Call me a nut but then look at how many of these reports come out in say... December :-).

[MetaTrope]

12. Let me guess: This "secret work" lets Al Qaeda make $5 suitcase nukes?

:nuke:

[Ganja Ninja]

13. "How to build a nuclear bomb out of ordinary household items ...

you find lying around the cave."

But that's ok because America is safer when Saddam is no longer a threat. (/sarcasm)

[lottie244]

14. Where is all the fury from the RW about an incompetent administration?

That's all we heard when Clinton was in office. It must be that this administration is giving away our secrets....?