Secret nuclear information missing from Los Alamos lab

'This is an extremely serious matter, and we are taking swift actions to deal with it,' laboratory director John Browne said in a statement

June 12, 2000
Web posted at: 8:09 p.m. EDT (0009 GMT)

In this story: Information pertained to U.S., Russian weapons FBI notified June 2 RELATED STORIES, SITES

From staff and wire reports

LOS ALAMOS, New Mexico (CNN) -- An investigation has been launched into the disappearance of nuclear weapons secrets and other highly sensitive classified information from Los Alamos National Laboratory, officials said Monday.

"This is an extremely serious matter, and we are taking swift actions to deal with it," laboratory director John Browne said in a statement.

Ed Curran, director of the Energy Department's office of counterintelligence, said, "At this point there is no evidence that suggests espionage is involved in this incident."

The secret material was stored on computer hard drives and discs in containers in a vault in Los Alamos' most highly classified area, the so-called "X Division," where designers of nuclear weapons do their work. Sources said the empty containers were found inside the vault.

The classified information pertained to a wide variety of nuclear weapons -- both U.S. and Russian.

It was not immediately known if the material was inadvertently destroyed, stolen or lost.

The disappearance of the records was reported to Energy Department headquarters June 1 after officials went to search for them following massive wildfires on the laboratory grounds and elsewhere in Los Alamos and nearby towns.

One senior government official told CNN, "At a minimum, somebody took this out of the vault, and it got misplaced in the confusion of the fire. If it's espionage, it's a huge deal."

This official said part of the problem in tracking down the missing data is that the record keeping is so unorganized it is difficult to tell who had access to the lab and who could have legitimately signed out the material.

"Officials are conducting an exhaustive search of computers, safes, containers and vaults and have interviewed all staff members who had access to the vault where the media were stored," the laboratory said in a news release.

FBI notified June 2

The investigation is being conducted in conjunction with the FBI, which was notified of the problem on June 2.

The University of California, which manages the weapons laboratory for the Energy Department, has launched a separate inquiry.

Browne's statement said "several administrative response actions" have already been taken. He added, "If the inquiry reveals that individuals did not fulfill their responsibilities with respect to this matter, they will face certain and appropriate disciplinary actions."

The investigation has become more difficult because many of the lab's scientists left the area last month because of the wild fires that swept the region. The lab itself was evacuated May 10 for five days. Officials repeatedly have said that all nuclear material was safeguarded and not threatened by the fires.

The same nuclear laboratory was embroiled in an espionage controversy involving a former lab scientist for much of last year.

The scientist, Wen Ho Lee, was arrested in December on charges of misuse of secret nuclear data and awaits trial. Lee was investigated for three years in connection with the alleged loss of U.S. nuclear secrets to China, but he never has been charged with espionage.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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March 8, 1999

Los Alamos National Laboratory
Department of Energy
University of California, Berkeley
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Atomic Energy Act and Related Legislation
Scientific Freedom and National Security

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