-Caveat Lector- GCN March 29, 1999 Energy secretary orders offices to screen e-mail By Frank Tiboni GCN Staff In the wake of the espionage scandal at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in Los Alamos, N.M., the Energy Department is taking steps to more closely analyze and screen sensitive e-mail sent by workers at its facilities. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson this month told the Senate Select Intelligence Committee that his department wants an additional $8 million added to its fiscal 2000 counterintelligence budget to implement a cyberinformation security program. �The Congress and the public urged us to tighten e-mail, and I�m ready to listen to good suggestions,� Richardson said. The lab on March 8 fired Wen Ho Lee, a scientist in the Theoretics Division, for security infractions. The violations turned on instances of failing to properly safeguard classified material, said John Gustafson, team leader of Los Alamos� Public Affairs Office. Lab officials will not comment further about Lee because of an ongoing government investigation, Gustafson said. Division checks Lee�s division studies fluid dynamics, and atomic and optimal theory in both classified and unclassified environments, Gustafson said. The lab has no formal e-mail policy. Employees have access to online training materials and a guidance office, however, and attend lectures and annual refresher courses to help them distinguish between classified and unclassified material, Gustafson said. �Ultimately, it�s the employee�s responsibility to know what information is appropriate and what information is not appropriate to send in e-mails,� he said. The additional $8 million will increase Energy�s counterintelligence measures budget to $39.2 million next year. Richardson�s announcement of the department�s cyberinformation security initiative coincided with six initiatives to strengthen counterintelligence efforts. Energy has implemented new safeguards on both classified and unclassified e-mail originating from its facilities, Richardson said. �I can assure the public that we have taken dramatic steps,� he said. Los Alamos scientists use Unix workstations. But they also use Apple Macintoshes and PCs for word processing and applications not supported under Unix, said Chris Kemper, group leader of Los Alamos� Network Engineering Group. The lab has multiple e-mail systems, but most employees get their e-mail through Unix Post Office Protocol/Internet Message Access Protocol servers. They use Netscape Navigator, Microsoft Internet Explorer or Eudora Pro from Qualcomm Inc. of San Diego to send e-mail, Kemper said. Los Alamos earlier this month also installed a new firewall to reduce its computers� vulnerability to hacks. -- The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them. - Henry David Thoreau DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
