http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=39273
By Jill R. Aitoro
Govexec.com
February 12, 2008
Los Alamos National Laboratory acknowledged problems involving security
of classified data and has taken several steps to improve processes,
according to a report [1] from the Government Accountability Office
released Monday. The laboratory, which manages numerous nuclear
facilities and operations, saw a reduction in the number of reported
security incidents from a five-year high of 18 in 2005 to four in 2007.
The laboratory, which is managed by a consortium of contractors called
Los Alamos National Security, handles plutonium, uranium and tritium
processing; research and development operations with special nuclear
material, high-energy radiography; radiation measurement; packaging of
nuclear materials; and radioactive and hazardous waste management. The
government awarded the management contract to the consortium in June
2006, after a series of high-profile security incidents involving the
possible exposure of classified information and concerns over workplace
safety. The House Energy and Water Development Subcommittee asked GAO to
provide an update on security, safety and management problems at the
lab.
"This was not a full-blown audit," said a GAO spokesman, who requested
anonymity. "The idea was to get something to the committee to address
some questions, based on existing studies, or work done by the [Energy
Department] inspector general."
GAO analyzed data from the lab's Office of Safeguards and Security and
the Incident Tracking and Analysis Capability database - Energy's
primary repository for monitoring security incidents. According to the
report, 57 security incidents involving the compromise or potential
compromise of classified information were reported between Oct. 1, 2002
and June 30, 2007. Of those, 37 posed the most serious threat to
national security. In one example, nine classified removable electronic
media items, including data disks, could not be accounted for after
relocation to a different on-site facility. Energy concluded that these
items were likely destroyed. In another example, a law enforcement
search of a subcontractor's home in Los Alamos, N.M., recovered
documents and a USB thumb drive containing classified information
removed from a highly classified facility at the lab.
In addition, nine incidents involved the confirmed or suspected
unauthorized disclosure of secret information, which Energy determined
posed a significant threat to U.S. national security interests, and 11
incidents involved the confirmed or suspected unauthorized disclosure of
confidential information, which posed threats to the department's
security interests.
According to the report, lab contractors have taken a number of steps to
improve information security. An estimated 1.4 million legacy classified
documents were destroyed, for example, and the number of electronic
classified items reduced from 87,000 to 4,472. They've also reduced the
number of vaults and vault-type rooms used for holding classified data
from 142 to 114, and consolidated classified material and classified
processing operations into a supervault-type room.
"It's a problem they're aware of and trying to take steps to remediate
long-standing issues," the GAO spokesman said.
Lab representatives could not immediately be reached for comment.
In response to the report, lab officials noted that the number of
security incidents that compromised or potentially compromised
classified information had declined from 18 in 2005 to five in 2006 and
four in 2007. The number of reported incidents rose prior to 2005,
increasing from 14 in 2003 to 16 in 2004.
"In our view, this short period of time is not sufficient to provide a
basis for meaningful trend analysis," Gene Aloise, GAO's director of
Natural Resources and Environment, said in the report. "Consequently, it
is too soon to tell if this decline in security incidents is more than
temporary."
[1] http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d08173r.pdf
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