ASHINGTON, May 31 � The Energy Department has ordered
a full review of security at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory after
discovering "unacceptable" security lapses.
Federal officials ordered the review of the laboratory in Northern
California on Friday after learning that the loss of an electronic access
badge had gone unreported to senior managers for six weeks. The badge
could help gain access to 3,000 offices at the facility, some containing
classified nuclear information.
The electronic badge was lost by a security officer on a routine shift
in mid-April, and several days later, security officers discovered that a
set of keys to the gates of the weapons laboratory was also missing.
Laboratory officials changed the locks, and they said they had no
indication that anybody had used the keys or the electronic badge to gain
entry.
"I view this as a fundamental management failure at the laboratory,"
Michael Anastasio, the director of the Livermore laboratory, said in a
telephone news conference Friday.
Linton Brooks, the national nuclear security administrator at the
Energy Department, said the failure to report potentially serious security
breaches "is unacceptable." Mr. Brooks ordered a team from Washington to
visit the laboratory beginning Monday and review security problems. The
team will also consider whether the Energy Department should assume direct
management of security at Livermore, which is operated by the
University of California.
Both Livermore and the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico,
the nation's other major site for nuclear weapons research, have been
beset by security problems in recent years. The Energy Department
announced in April that it would seek bids for the first time to operate
Los Alamos, also run by the University of
California.
At Livermore, Mr. Anastasio acknowledged that the latest security
problems could lead officials to reconsider the university's management of
Livermore as well.
The episodes follow other security problems at Livermore. A security
team member maintained in news reports that the laboratory's special
response team was not adequately prepared to defend against a terrorist
attack, and a security administrator left after it was disclosed that
while with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, he had had a long-term
affair with a Los Angeles woman now accused of being an agent for China.
That incident was the subject of a separate, classified review.
The security officer who lost his electronic badge in mid-April filed a
report at the time with an immediate supervisor, but senior managers were
not notified of the incident until this past Thursday, Mr. Anastasio said.
He said he was "still stunned" that senior managers were not told of the
problem, adding, "I have no answer or explanation as to why that
happened."
Livermore officials said that after learning of the loss of the badge
last week, they began immediately reprogramming electronic security to
prevent access by anyone who might find the card.
One security manager has been suspended for five days, and more
disciplinary action is expected, Mr. Anastasio said.
