http://www.rawstory.com/news/2007/Nuclear_weapons_agency_cannot_assure_security_0131.html
Thursday February 1, 2007
Nuclear weapons agency cannot assure security, government auditors
warn
Michael Roston
A report released on Wednesday by government auditors shows that the
Department of Energy's nuclear weapons complex has yet to shake its
long-held reputation for "science at its best, security at its worst,"
RAW STORY has learned.
A Government Accountability Office report on the National Nuclear
Security Administration shows that the agency "continues to experience
difficulties in developing a safeguards and security program that
provides reasonable assurance that all protection objectives are being
met."
NNSA is a semi-autonomous executive branch agency, charged by the
Department of Energy with protecting "against malevolent acts, such as
theft, diversion, sabotage, modification, compromise, or unauthorized
access to nuclear weapons, nuclear weapons components, special nuclear
materials, or classified and unclassified information."
Congress established the body in 2000, in part to resolve the
Cabinet-level agency's reputation for being unable to ensure the
security of America's nuclear weapons complex.
Worryingly, the GAO found that ratings resulting from site security
reviews by the individual sites are "relatively unchanged" in the five
years since the NNSA was created, even in the aftermath of the
heightening of nuclear physical security requirements after the
September 11th attacks.
Moreover, DOE's Office of Independent Oversight actually found a
deterioration in the number of sites receiving "satisfactory" ratings
for physical security.
The most recent September 2006 DOE review of cyber security at all
sites also found that "ongoing problems continue to place DOE’s
critical information systems and data at risk of compromise."
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I thought the Bush Crime Family was worried about terrorists. I guess
I was wrong.
Harry
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