Opinion: Government Computer Insecurity
Dateline: 06/15/00
Update: 06/16/00
Found 'em!
Late this afternoon, CNN reported that the two portable hard drives
containing sensitive nuclear weapons data from the Los Alamos National
Laboratory have been found -- behind a copy machine. Hey, not even I could make
that up. Read it for yourself...
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Two missing computer hard drives containing sensitive nuclear weapons data from the Los Alamos National Laboratory have been recovered, federal authorities announced Friday. The drives were found behind a copy machine in a secure area of the laboratory that had previously been searched, sources told CNN. (Click to read entire article.)
Needless to say, the FBI is treating the location as a crime scene and espionage is considered a possibility. Oh, come on. Doesn't everybody keep their hard drives behind the copy machine?
Why don't we know the all the facts about events like Roswell or the Kennedy assassination? Because, back then, the U.S. government did not yet have PCs on which to store secrets for later theft or "misplacement."
First, at least two laptops with sensitive material in them walk away from the State Department. Any savvy PC user knows that putting sensitive material on a laptop is as good as calling up the newspaper and saying, "Hey, guess what...?" In any environment where hundreds of laptops are used and shared, "walk-offs," thefts, mix-ups and units just "left laying around" are certain to happen. Often.
Now, two PC portable hard drives holding no less than the secrets to every nuclear weapon system on earth including our own come up missing from a safe at the Los Alamos National Laboratories. We kept all those secrets for all those years through the Cold War, then Los Alamos gets PCs and - poof - gone.
According to a June 14 CNN report, the portable hard drives were, "part of three kits that contained highly sensitive nuclear weapons information used by the lab's Nuclear Emergency Search Team, which is trained to respond to nuclear accidents or terrorism."
In response, Energy Department officials have promised new measures to protect the nation's nuclear secrets. That's fine for all our "going forward" nuclear secrets, but far too late for our old ones.
Here's another fairly scary PC security scenario for your imagination to play with: "For security purposes, we scan all old reports into the PC, then shred the originals." Don't laugh, this is actually policy in some companies. Surely, they did not do this at Los Alamos.
Just last March, Dr. Wen Ho Lee, a Taiwan-born U.S. citizen, was fired from Los Alamos for allegedly copying nuclear weapons secrets and storing them on an unclassified computer network.
Apparently, the criticality of the information Dr. Lee is accused of stealing pales in comparison to the nuclear weapons-design secrets on the two missing hard drives.
An outraged Energy Department Secretary Richardson has called for what will certainly be a lengthy and costly investigation into the vanishing hard drives and for the development of improved security measures at the national laboratories.
Secretary Richardson, here is all you need no know -- fast and free:
If you have information you absolutely DO NOT want anybody else to know, NEVER type that information into any kind of personal computer.
Reference Links
Senate hearing examines loss of nuclear secrets at Los Alamos lab
CNN - June 14, 2000Los Alamos Lab's Daily Bulletin
Coverage of the lost hard drives as it is presented to the Los Alamos staff by the Los Alamos staff.Los Alamos Nuclear Weapons Science & Technology
The people who should best know atomic bombs, having built the world's first one half a century ago.
The China Syndrome
The China Syndrome - US Government knew about Wen Ho Lee and did nothing - from your About. Guide to Conspiracies Marc E. Fisher
Will the China spying scandal lead to scapegoating of APAs? The impacts of the Los Alamos case, from your About Guide to Asian-American Culture.
Some fascinating, often troublesome facts about all things nuclear collected by the Brookings Institute. From your About Guide.
The Berlin Wall and communism fell, but now the U.S. is spending $475.5 million to help the former Soviet Union dismantle and store its excess nuclear weapons. From your About Guide.
Are we getting out of the nuclear arms race, or in deeper all the time? Analysis of the nuclear future from Current Events Guide Keith Porter.
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