Sobering Senate Hearing on National Labs Espionage
”...I acknowledge that an extremely serious compromise of the security of classified nuclear weapons information has occurred....” - John C. Browne, Director, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Last week’s hearing of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee was not easy. Browne, Lawrence Livermore Director Bruce Tarter, and Sandia Director Paul Robinson were the only witnesses at this 3 « hour hearing. Although committee senators were highly critical of security breaches, they issued no overt calls for a moratorium on some foreign visitors to these three laboratories.
Committee chairman Frank H. Murkowski (R-Alaska) called the Los Alamos incident “the most significant damage to our national security in many years.” He was highly critical of the Department of Energy, charging that the administration had not kept Congress informed, and had failed to produce requested documents. Murkowski acknowledged that this episode started during the Bush Administration, saying “there is plenty of blame to go around.” He would, Murkowski said, determine both accountability and responsibility for this lapse.
Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-New Mexico), obliquely referring to a bill introduced by Senator Richard Shelby (R-Alabama) (see FYI #75), told his colleagues that it is “essential that we not allow an over reaction.” Bingaman described as “draconian,” Shelby’s legislation banning visits by scientists from sensitive countries, saying that it would prevent the labs from performing their mission. Such legislation “would destroy them as effective scientific institutions.” Senator Pete Domenici (R-New Mexico) said “too much attention is being paid to foreign visitors,” saying that scientist-to-scientist contact “is critical.” The real problem, he said, was preventing espionage by U.S. lab employees with Q clearances. Domenici wants a comprehensive and consensus bill to address security issues at the labs.
The “difficulty of coping with the ‘insider’ threat,” was described by Browne, a remark echoed by Robinson. Robinson explained how most foreigners come into the labs with U.S. corporations and universities, and as arms control and proliferation officials. Tarter thought that a bigger threat was the inadvertent disclosure of information by American scientists visiting foreign countries. In responding to the directors’ oral testimony, Murkowski said, “I don’t know if we have necessarily been reassured by what we have heard today.”
Browne was under no illusions that this problem is easy to deal with. “It’s looking for a needle in a haystack” he said of efforts to detect misplaced classified materials, but said Los Alamos is moving aggressively on new measures. Also to be improved are communications and procedures between the labs and the F.B.I., which was identified as contributing significantly to this incident.
Senator Don Nickles (R-Oklahoma) came by the hearing long enough to blast DOE, saying “this is total incompetence.” “I am shocked there are no more senators here,” Nickels said, calling this the “most serious case of espionage” in U.S. history. Senator Arlen Specter (R-Pennsylvania) associated himself with Nickels’ remarks.
Murkowski asked many questions about lab security procedures. The lab directors spoke again about the difficulty of preventing espionage by insiders, and praised a recent presidential directive on new security measures. They added that no system is 100% effective.
The questions then turned to foreign visitors to the labs. Robinson told the senators that he knew of no documented case of any significant loss to a foreign visitor. Of the moratorium legislation, Robinson said “what is the purpose?...we should not lose the focus.” Bingaman replied “there’s going to be legislation, I just hope it is rationale.”
The hearing wound-up with talk of future hearings (there are at least ten committees examining this) and more legislation. Murkowski said, “these were the secrets of the nation...something is wrong with our system.”
