Energy Secretary Seeks DOE Operation Halt

[maddezmom]

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham (news - web sites) on Friday ordered a halt to all Energy Department operations across the country that use the kind of computer disks reported missing last week at Los Alamos National Laboratory.


Under his order, each Energy Department installation will suspend operations Monday involving removable data-storage devices such as computer disks. Each site will conduct an inventory of such items and perform weekly inventories after that. Staff members will get additional training and security procedures will be reviewed.


A department spokeswoman could not immediately say how many sites will be affected.


The problem at Los Alamos "suggests that we must minimize the risk of human error or malfeasance to a much greater extent," Abraham said in a statement from Washington.

~snip~
more: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&ncid=718&e=5&u=/ap/20040723/ap_on_re_us/los_alamos_lab_security

[lapfog_1]

1. Good god

I used to be associated with a secure computing facility (tempest
room), and there were no wires into the room, and all of the data
used was in separate safes within the room... if you wanted to
do some secure computing, you were cleared into the room (and searched).
You unlocked your safe, pulled out your disk drives, booted up
the machine (in this case, a supercomputer), did whatever you wanted
to do, spun down everything, and put it back in the safe... then you
were searched again on the way out.

Even the power lines going into the facility were conditioned and
monitored for spurious data transmission.

How can DOE screw this up so badly?

[struggle4progress]

2. The nuclear cowboys are a careless bunch and ...

... much impressed with their own excellence.