Is security at Los Alamos National Laboratory really that bad?

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In summary, authorities in northern New Mexico discovered classified information from Los Alamos National Laboratory while arresting a man suspected of domestic violence and dealing methamphetamine. The information was found during a search of the man's records for evidence of his drug business. The police alerted the FBI, who traced the documents back to a woman linked to the drug dealer. The woman was a contract employee at Los Alamos National Laboratory, and the documents appeared to contain classified material. Los Alamos has a history of security problems, but the current management has been making improvements. The leaked documents may not necessarily be related to nuclear weapons, as the lab has a variety of research programs that involve classified material.
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Dawguard
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Authorities in northern New Mexico have stumbled onto what appears to be classified information from Los Alamos National Laboratory while arresting a man suspected of domestic violence and dealing methamphetamine from his mobile home.

Sgt. Chuck Ney of the Los Alamos Police Department said the information was discovered during a search last Friday of the man's records for evidence of his drug business.

Police alerted the FBI to the secret documents, which agents traced back to a woman linked to the drug dealer, officials said. The woman is a contract employee at Los Alamos National Laboratory, according to an FBI official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the case.

The official would not describe the documents except to say that they appeared to contain classified material and were stored on a computer file...
...Los Alamos has a history of high-profile security problems in the past decade, with the most notable the case of nuclear scientist Wen Ho Lee. After years of accusations, Lee pleaded guilty in a plea bargain to one count of mishandling nuclear secrets at the lab.

In 2004, the lab was essentially shut down after an inventory showed that two computer disks containing nuclear secrets were missing. A year later the lab concluded that it was just a mistake and the disks never existed.
Is security really that bad at Los Alamos, or is this just media hype? I don't know if there is anyone here who works there, or has worked there, but from the way CBS wrote this article it sounded like this type of security problem is ongoing and uncorrected. I certainly hope that isn't the case, since leaked or stolen classified documents is never a good thing, especially the type regarding nuclear weapons. Is there anyone here who can verify or deny this, because as troubling the story is, I don't trust news medias not to exagerate it.


http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/10/24/national/main2122004.shtml
 
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Dawguard said:
Is security really that bad at Los Alamos, or is this just media hype? I don't know if there is anyone here who works there, or has worked there, but from the way CBS wrote this article it sounded like this type of security problem is ongoing and uncorrected. I certainly hope that isn't the case, since leaked or stolen classified documents is never a good thing, especially the type regarding nuclear weapons. Is there anyone here who can verify or deny this, because as troubling the story is, I don't trust news medias not to exagerate it.http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/10/24/national/main2122004.shtml
Its a lot of media hype, but there were serious problems in the past. Security there is not bad at all--if you mean keeping people out of places they shouldn't be in. But how do you stop someone who is trying to actively steal information after they've been granted access? You can't. No matter what kind of security policy you institute. You can certainly catch them after the fact, but the information has still gotten out. There is nothing you can do to stop someone inside the fence from walking out with information, short of strip searches, and laptop scans at every security gate (and there are a lot of ID checkpoints and gates at Los Alamos). That has nothing to do with the quality of security--that has to do with the quality of people that have been hired.

I worked there over the summer, and from talking to people in several divisions, the impression I got was that things were bad when Nanos was the director in many ways, but that things have been greatly improving since he left. Nanos instituted a lot of bad policies, that mostly just got in the way of doing legitimate work, and didn't do anything to improve security or safety. He also shut down the entire lab because one dumb grad student nearly blinded himself with a laser.

My impressions of the new management that just took over when I got there have been largely good. The new director (He was previously a director at Livermore) seems to be a good manager from what I've seen (I met him, briefly).

As another note, just because the documents were classified doesn't mean they have anything to do with nuclear weapons. The lab has a very broad variety of research programs and the majority have some kind of classified material.

edit: Just checked, and she was a sub-contractor employee. Meaning she was an employee of a company hired by a company hired by the lab.
 
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FAQ: Is security at Los Alamos National Laboratory really that bad?

1. What are the "Stolen Los Alamos Papers"?

The "Stolen Los Alamos Papers" refer to a collection of classified documents that were stolen from the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico in 1945. These documents contained sensitive information related to the development of the atomic bomb during World War II.

2. Who stole the Los Alamos Papers?

The Los Alamos Papers were stolen by a physicist named Klaus Fuchs, who was working at the Los Alamos National Laboratory as part of the Manhattan Project. Fuchs was later arrested and convicted of espionage for passing the stolen documents to the Soviet Union.

3. How did the theft of the Los Alamos Papers impact history?

The theft of the Los Alamos Papers is considered to be one of the biggest security breaches in US history. The stolen documents provided the Soviet Union with valuable information about the development of the atomic bomb, which accelerated their own nuclear weapons program. This ultimately led to an arms race between the US and the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

4. Were any other documents stolen from Los Alamos besides the Los Alamos Papers?

Yes, there were several other instances of espionage and theft of classified documents from the Los Alamos National Laboratory during the Manhattan Project. These included the theft of documents by physicist Ted Hall and the Rosenbergs, who were later convicted and executed for their actions.

5. Is security at Los Alamos National Laboratory better now to prevent future thefts?

Since the theft of the Los Alamos Papers, security measures at the Los Alamos National Laboratory have been significantly improved. The lab now has strict security protocols in place to prevent unauthorized access to sensitive information and materials. However, there is no guarantee that future thefts or security breaches will not occur.

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