NYT: (Los Alamos) Nuclear Lab's Missing Disks May Not Exist

[DeepModem Mom]

Nuclear Lab's Missing Disks May Not Exist
By SANDRA BLAKESLEE

Published: August 12, 2004


SANTA FE, N.M., Aug. 11 - A simple clerical error may be to blame for the security alarm that led to the shutdown of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, people inside and outside the laboratory say.

In interviews on Wednesday, employees and people who have spoken with Los Alamos managers said it appeared that two computer disks said to contain classified information and to be missing had never been created. Through an oversight, they continued, the disks were still assigned bar codes that were entered into the laboratory's inventory for tracking classified material.

Through spokesmen, both the laboratory and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which is involved in the search for the disks, refused to comment on the assertions, which were first reported Tuesday by KRQE-TV in Albuquerque....

***

Peter Stockton, an investigator with the Project on Government Oversight, a watchdog group in Washington, said the staff of the Senate Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees Los Alamos's work, was told by managers last week that the disks had never been made.
"At first I couldn't believe they were serious," Mr. Stockton said. "But then it's not likely they're making this up. It's been seven weeks and they're taking a huge pummeling. It's an indication of what a mess their control over classified information is."...


http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/12/politics/12lab.html

[acmavm]

1. Yeah, sounds good to me. Can't find them? Then tell everyone it's

just a big mistake, they never existed. The everything's just FINE.