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Nuclear Lab Breach Could Be 'Devastating'

shemp

a flimsy character...perfidious and despised
shemp
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Data Found In Drug Raid Contains Weapons-Design Secrets

The recent security breach at Los Alamos National Laboratory was very serious, with sensitive materials being taken out of the facility ? possibly including information on how to deactivate locks on nuclear weapons, officials tell CBS News.

Officials say there is no evidence the information taken from Los Alamos was sold or transferred to anybody else, but there is no way to be sure right now.

As CBS News correspondent Sharyl Attkisson was the first to report, secret documents apparently taken from the lab were found during a drug raid at a Los Alamos-area home last month. The FBI was called in to investigate.
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The woman believed to have taken the information ? Jessica Quintana, 22, who owned the trailer ? worked in three classified vault rooms across Los Alamos:

* Safeguards and Security (relating to strategic nuclear material control and accountability)
* X-Division (top secret)
* Physics P-Division.

She also had top secret "Q-clearance" with access to all the U.S. underground nuclear test data. Quintana has not been arrested or charged. Her attorney says she took the material home to work and then forgot about it.

For example, if a terrorist steals an American nuclear weapon, he could not detonate it due to the special access controls. This woman is authorized to read the reports that tell how to get around those safety controls.
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I have some questions: How the hell does a 22-year-old get access to top-secret data??? Don't you have to, say, work your way up and prove that you are trustworthy? Or does the government just hire anyone who comes in off the street and give them top secret clearance? It's bad enough that she did this, but WHO THE HELL HIRED HER? WHO THE HELL DID THE BACKGROUND CHECKS ON HER? DID ANYONE DO A BACKGROUND CHECK ON HER? AND WTF IS GOING ON THAT SOMEONE WHO IS YOUNG AND IMMATURE CAN GET SUCH CLEARANCE???
 
Dude, she totally pinky swore that she'd keep it all a secret. Erin swears she's totally awesome at keeping secrets, she didn't even tell Jackie that Reece made out with her boyfriend. What other proof do you need Dr. Nazi?
 
bob_kark said:
Dude, she totally pinky swore that she'd keep it all a secret. Erin swears she's totally awesome at keeping secrets, she didn't even tell Jackie that Reece made out with her boyfriend. What other proof do you need Dr. Nazi?
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And she passed her drug test and the polygraph. And everyone knows that only drug users sell secrets, and that polygraph tests are 100% effective.
 
With a positive result from a background investigation (BI), anyone can get a Top Secret clearance. I even had one when I was 19 or 20 :eek:

Back in the 70's and 80's the BIs included interviews of your friends and neighbors, teachers, supervisors and what have you. Around the early 80's they upped the frequency of the BIs to yearly (if I remember correctly), it had been like every few years. Though I think the BIs after your initial one were called something else, but memory isn't helping me with what it is :)

I'm not sure how long this information was in her trailer. I would think for the sensitive stuff there would be audits. We had shift to shift audits of the TS stuff we kept handy, and I believe monthly audits of the Secret/Top Secret publications that we were required to have on board, but kept locked up in a safe, because we rarely used it. You'd think with all the problems they've had there recently they would have several checks going on to make sure everything was safeguarded. But, not ever having been there, I have no idea what the situation is, so it's hard to second guess their procedures, though obviously the current system has flaws (to put it mildly).
 
This Guy said:
I'm not sure how long this information was in her trailer. I would think for the sensitive stuff there would be audits. We had shift to shift audits of the TS stuff we kept handy, and I believe monthly audits of the Secret/Top Secret publications that we were required to have on board, but kept locked up in a safe, because we rarely used it. You'd think with all the problems they've had there recently they would have several checks going on to make sure everything was safeguarded. But, not ever having been there, I have no idea what the situation is, so it's hard to second guess their procedures, though obviously the current system has flaws (to put it mildly).
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Even if they did do audits, what's to stop her from just photocopying stuff and taking it home?

Remember all the hoohah about the stolen VA laptops this past summer? It took until a couple of weeks ago before my agency wised up and said, "Hmmm, people handle sensitive (not secret) data here all the time, and laptops go in and out of this building every day, unless people are just carrying their lunches around in those HP bags."

So they finally set up laptop screening procedures that I could train a large dog to evade. First thing you need to do is fill out an application for a property pass, which your supervisor has to sign off on. Okay, fine, except that I don't know that anyone verifies the supervisor's signature. You then go to the security office, give them the application; they cut off the top part and give it back to you as a temporary pass; you'll get the permanent one in a month. But you can start taking your laptop home today.

Hmmm, what's to stop me from stopping by the cubicle of the enormously fat tub of goo across the aisle from me, writing down the barcode and S/N on her laptop while she's downstairs getting herself a 64-ounce soda (that's half a gallon, folks, and I'm not making this up...), filling out a property pass application, forgeing my supervisor's signature, and walking off with her laptop one fine day? Answer: Nothing save my own conscience.

Okay, once you have your property pass - permanent or temporary - when you leave the building, you have to open your bag or backpack or whatever to show the rent-a-cops that you have no laptop inside, or else show them the laptop and your property pass.

The biggest problem is, they don't do this every day. On the days they do check, there's a big sign warning you before you exit, saying "Full Laptop Screening Procedures In Effect."

Thanks for the warning, guys; I'll be careful not to steal any laptops today. I'll just scope out the checkpoint tomorrow and steal one on a day that you aren't checking.

And even when they do check for laptops, they don't check to see if maybe you removed the hard disk and stuck it inside your leftover lunch bag.

A couple of weeks ago, I put in a requisition to get a laptop cable lock so I could chain it to my desk (hadn't needed it until recently, when my office moved from a location where we could lock the door, to cubicleville). I'm still waiting. Meanwhile, Mrs. BPSCG recently started a new job and was given a cable lock with her new laptop; when the lock turned out to be defective, she had a replacement the next day.

See, this is why I don't believe the 9/11 conspiracy theorists. :mad:
 
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WildCat said:
And she passed her drug test and the polygraph. And everyone knows that only drug users sell secrets, and that polygraph tests are 100% effective.
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And don't forget of course she WASN'T one of those HOMO types.
 
Hmmm, what's to stop me from stopping by the cubicle of the enormously fat tub of goo across the aisle from me, writing down the barcode and S/N on her laptop while she's downstairs getting herself a 64-ounce soda (that's half a gallon, folks, and I'm not making this up...)
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I hope she's drinking Zooky![TM], The World's First and Best Zucchini-Flavored Soda![TM] (Diet, of course.)
 
And given the evidence, I'd say it is more likely the youthful are far more trustworthy than the mature.

There is a serious problem, not only at LANL, but in most civilian agencies as well. Laptops, and especially thumbdrives, constitute a major part of it. The government should really rethink the platforms on which they process/store classified or otherwise sensitive information. The current TEMPEST/IA guidelines just ain't keeping pace with the technology.

I would not be at all surprised if every single non-compartmentalized secret we currently have was compromised already to some degree.

We don't have a house in order; we have a sieve.

I'm of the opinion that this young, likely low-level, employee was not actively seeking to compromise information. She was just sloppy and the system in place did not [physically] prevent her from downloading the data micro-mini mass storage. But you can bet that there are people that are willing to compromise this data, and our current system makes it so easy that it almost looks like a business opportunity.
 
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