-Caveat Lector- U.S. nuclear labs to focus on security next week (releads, adds details, quotes throughout) By Tabassum Zakaria WASHINGTON, June 16 (Reuters) - The U.S. Energy Department, under fire for security lapses at its nuclear weapons research laboratories, ordered a two-day ``stand-down'' next week to focus lab employees on security issues, Energy Secretary Bill Richardson said on Wednesday. Richardson also announced retired four-star Gen. Eugene Habiger will take the newly created position of ``security czar'' at the Energy Department with a mandate to improve security throughout the agency and the labs. On Capitol Hill, the Senate voted to boost Energy Department funding for security operations. The Senate bill would boost funding for counterintelligence to $39 million from $15.6 million and funding for security investigations, such background checks on foreign visitors to the labs, to $45 million from $30 million. Those provisions were included in a broader $21 billion bill for assorted energy and water programs. The House has not moved its version of the legislation. The Energy Department was criticized by members of Congress for lax security because of allegations of Chinese espionage at U.S. nuclear labs over the past two decades. The most recent report on lab security, by the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, recommended the nuclear labs be partially or fully severed from the Energy Department, which often refers to them as its ``crown jewels.'' Richardson has repeatedly said he was taking strong steps to improve security at the labs, but would not support removing them from the Energy Department's jurisdiction. ``What I don't find acceptable is a separate agency, that to me is something that is not productive,'' Richardson said. All employees of Los Alamos, Lawrence Livermore and Sandia laboratories will participate in the two-day security program on Monday and on Tuesday, Richardson said. ``What this basically means is all normal operations will cease at the national laboratories during this period, as the employees will participate in intensive review of personal responsibilities for security, counterintelligence and cybersecurity,'' Richardson told reporters. It will be the second stand-down this year at the national nuclear labs. The first one, in early April, focused on security of classified computers and the three labs suspended work using computers holding highly classified material in an effort to improve security. That came after a scientist was fired in March at Los Alamos National Laboratory under suspicion of passing secrets to China. The scientist, Wen Ho Lee, has not been charged with any crime. A congressional report in May said China, during 20 years of espionage, targeted the labs and obtained secret information on seven U.S. nuclear warheads and the neutron bomb. China repeatedly denied it stole U.S. secrets. For the two-day security program, Richardson asked lab management to review security procedures with all employees. Habiger, who will take up his new post on July 6, said, ``I will work very quickly, very aggressively, and we'll get this thing fixed.'' Before retiring from the Air Force in 1998, Habiger was commander-in-chief of the U.S. Strategic Command in which he was responsible for ``the security and effectiveness of the entire U.S. nuclear arsenal,'' Richardson said. ``I am a security czar and that's called in my view a dictator and I'm going to be a dictator in terms of implementing policy and making sure it's carried out,'' Habiger said. -- 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
