CNN WORLDVIEW June 17, 2000; Saturday 6:00 PM Eastern Time
What Was on Discovered Hard Drives and Who Might Want the Information
Brian Nelson, Kelly Wallace
BRIAN NELSON, CNN ANCHOR: The FBI is closely examining two computer hard drives
that made a sudden appearance at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. They want
to know if these are the same disks that
disappeared from the lab last month.
CNN White House correspondent Kelly Wallace looks at what is on those disks and
who might want the information.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KELLY WALLACE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The two computer
hard drives in question, similar to this one, are about the size of a
deck of playing cards. They contain highly classified information, used by the
Energy Department's so-called
"Nuclear Emergency Search Team."
Technical experts, showcased here in a 1986 government film who would be
dispatched to deal with a nuclear accident, or a terrorist attack involving
nuclear weapons. The top secret information on the drives includes details
about the United States' nuclear weapons, information about how to disarm those
weapons, and intelligence about the nuclear programs of other countries, such
as Russia.
Who would want that information? Nuclear experts say, suspected terrorists, or
so-called rogue states, such as North Korea.
JOHN PIKE, FED. OF AMERICAN SCIENTISTS: This would information would disclose how the
United States, might hope to detect a covertly in-place nuclear weapons
somewhere here in United States, and that might make it a little easier for
someone to sneak an atomic bomb into the United States without detection.
WALLACE: But experts caution that the material on the disks would not help a
terrorist or a rogue a mission build a nuclear weapon from scratch.
JON WOLFSTHAL, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL
PEACE: I think it's important to keep in context. I don't think we should
treat these disks as the Holy Grail of proliferation. They're not think
textbooks for weapons design.
WALLACE: In fact, Wolfsthal says the larger concern is that there are still
security lapses at the Los
Alamos National Laboratory. Last year, a Los Alamos nuclear scientist, Wen Ho
Lee, was arrested, charged with mishandling classified information, and now
this has lawmakers dishing out scathing criticism of the Department of Energy,
and its top man, Secretary Bill Richardson. The possible discovery of the hard
drives has
not silenced those critics.
SEN. JOHN KYL (R), ARIZONA: But the fact of the matter is, we need somebody in
charge, Secretary Richardson so far has been the person in charge, and
obviously, he hasn't gotten the job done.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALLACE: The full political fallout may depend
on whether vital nuclear secrets were actually lost. That may not be known for
any time soon, but that hasn't stopped some members of Congress from renewing
their call for the creation of a new post in the administration --
undersecretary for national security -- Brian.
WALLACE: All
right, thank you, Kelly. Kelly Wallace at the White House.
Content and programming copyright 2000 Cable News Network Transcribed under
license by Federal Document Clearing House, Inc. Formatting copyright 2000
Federal Document Clearing House, Inc. All rights reserved. No quotes from the
materials contained herein may be used in any
media without attribution to Cable News Network. This transcript may not be
copied or resold in any media.