DATE=6/16/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=NUKE DISKS FOUND (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=263565
BYLINE=MIKE O'SULLIVAN
DATELINE=LOS ANGELES
CONTENT=




Intro:  U-S officials say two missing computer 
hard drives containing nuclear secrets have been 
found at the laboratory where they disappeared 
six weeks ago.   Investigators evaluating the 
devices to see if they are authentic.  From V-O-
A's West Coast  bureau, Mike O'Sullivan has more.


Text:   U-S Energy Secretary Bill Richardson says the 
two computer drives were found in a secure area of the 
Los Alamos National Laboratory, but that they were  
outside the vault where they were previously kept.  
The disks contain weapons data on U-S, Russian and 
other nuclear systems. The information is used by the 
U-S government's Nuclear Emergency Search  Team, which 
is responsible for disarming devices in nuclear 
emergencies, such as  a terrorist incident.

News reports quote officials as saying the disks were 
found behind a photo-copy machine in an area that had 
been searched earlier.  Officials have not ruled out 
the possibility that the disks were removed from the 
lab and later returned.  Each disk is the size of a 
deck of cards and is easily transported.  

A statement by the Energy Department Friday said the 
area where the disks were found is being treated as a 
crime scene.  The statement also said there will be  
disciplinary actions stemming from the incident.

            /// rest opt ///

The loss was first discovered May 7th, but lab workers 
did not notify their superiors at the Energy 
Department in Washington for more than three weeks, 
until May 31st.  Public release of the information 
this week caused a furor in Washington.  A 
congressional oversight committee Friday called the 
disappearance a  "potentially devastating compromise" 
of national security.  

The Los Alamos lab was evacuated in early May as a 
raging wildfire approached.  Security personnel 
remained in place, and there was speculation the disks 
were misplaced as workers fled the facility.  

The laboratory has been criticized the past year, 
however, for lax security.   A former lab scientist, 
Wen Ho Lee, was charged in December with 59 counts of 
mishandling classified material and he faces a 
possible life sentence if convicted.  (Signed)


NEB/PT

 



16-Jun-2000 19:38 PM EDT (16-Jun-2000 2338 UTC)
NNNN

Source: Voice of America
.