EEE会議（米国の原子力研究所の不正事件）
2003/6/25

各位殿

米国の核兵器・原子力関係の研究開発で有名なロスアラモス国立研究所などにおける
一連の不正事件や不祥事については先に色々お伝えしましたところ、今度はサンディ
ア国立研究所でも種々の不正事件（原子力施設の管理上の不始末など）が問題になっ
ており、一部の上院議員が監督官庁であるエネルギー省の責任を厳しく追及している
ようです。　詳細は、次のNew York Times(６月２３日付け）でどうぞ。　--KK

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Senator Questions Security at Nuclear Arms Laboratories

By MATTHEW L. WALD

WASHINGTON, June 22 ・The Department of Energy has reneged on a promise to
investigate security problems cited by two investigators at its Sandia
National Laboratories says a senator, who also says Sandia's management
punished the investigators.

The senator, Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, sent a sharply worded
letter to the secretary of energy, Spencer Abraham, on Friday, citing a long
string of reports of fraud and security problems at the laboratories in
Albuquerque.

 "You need to address these and other security matters at the nuclear
weapons labs," Mr. Grassley wrote. His staff gave The New York Times a copy
of the letter.

"The labs are in harm's way," Mr. Grassley wrote. "There is plenty of loud
thunder. Lightning will surely follow. The labs are in danger of getting
zapped."

A spokesman for the National Nuclear Security Administration, a part of the
Energy Department, said that "security at our weapons labs is the highest
priorities of N.N.S.A. and the secretary of energy."

The spokesman, Anson Franklin, added, "We have multiple and redundant means
at each facility to ensure that our secrets and materials are not at risk."

The security administration was established in 2000 after lapses at a nearby
laboratory, Los Alamos.

Mr. Grassley's letter gives only a few details of the security problems
reported at Sandia, including the loss of keys "to every lock at the lab
right up to the glass doors to the reactor."
As chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Mr. Grassley has no
responsibility to oversee the Energy Department, but he has a history of
championing government employees who say they faced retaliation for charges
of incompetence or fraud.

The two investigators who raised questions about security at Sandia, Pat
O'Neill and Mark Ludwig, say they were transferred from an office building
to a rodent-infested trailer, reassigned to noninvestigative work, and had
their annual raises reduced, Mr. Grassley said.

The laboratory commissioned a former United States attorney, Norman Bay, to
investigate the problems. Mr. Grassley quoted from a summary of that report,
which he received from the Energy Department. (He said he had obtained the
whole report with difficulty but agreed to keep it secret.)
The letter from Mr. Grassley said the report covered investigations of 5 of
100 security problems identified by Mr. O'Neill and Mr. Ludwig. The summary
identified six other problems that it said "did not merit heightened
scrutiny."
One of these, Mr. Grassley's letter said, was the theft of a Verizon van
that had been parked at Sandia.

"The van was stolen from inside a classified area and crashed undetected
through perimeter fences at 5 a.m. in what is described as a `high risk'
exit maneuver," the letter said. "It was discovered a day and a half later
in a local department store parking lot."

The letter said that the authors of the Bay Report had ignored "very
pertinent" facts, that a computer handling classified information
disappeared at the time the van was stolen, that the security forces turned
off some equipment needed to verify alarms and that although a set of master
keys had disappeared three years earlier, the locks were never changed.

"These security failures add up to a red warning flag," Mr. Grassley wrote.
"Does anyone at your department see the red flag? Management continues to
turn a blind eye to serious breaches of security."

Asked if the Bay Report had been insufficient, Mr. Franklin, the spokesman
for the National Nuclear Security Administration, said: "We have multiple
investigations under way looking at issues that have been raised at Sandia
lab and other labs. N.N.S.A. has looked at it, the inspector general of the
Energy Department, and the Office of Oversight and Inspections. There are
numerous reviews and audits out there to ensure we have the best security
that there is available."

Mr. Franklin added, however, that the department might announce some changes
in security soon.