N-secrets missing from Los Alamos

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

NEW YORK, JUNE 13. Sensitive and technical nuclear secrets stored in a vault in the Los Alamos National Laboratory have disappeared and an investigation is on, the Energy Department has disclosed. It is said that the official concerned has learnt about the disappearance on June 1 prompting the investigative process, involving among others, the FBI. Espionage is not being suspected, it is maintained.

``This is an extremely serious matter and we are taking swift actions to deal with it,'' Mr. John Browne, Director of the Federal Lab said in New Mexico. The secrets were said to be held in two hard drives and discs; but no one is willing to comment on whether or not the missing material has anything to do with Russian nuclear weapons. The vault is in a highly-classified area, known as ``X Division''.

Members of Congress have expressed shock at the latest turn of events at Los Alamos, the lab which has been at the centre of an ongoing controversy in the last one year or so. The lab was involved in a controversy surrounding one of its scientists, Mr. Wen Ho Lee, for misuse of nuclear data. Mr. Lee has not been charged with espionage and is awaiting trial.

There is speculation on what happened and there is every indication that Capitol Hill is going to get involved very soon through hearings. The Commerce Committee has already scheduled one, and the House Intelligence Committee is also moving in this direction.

One view is that in the wake of the forest fire last month, a lot of material had been shifted from Los Alamos and that these hard drives could be among them. Another suggestion has been that the hard drives and discs may have been destroyed.

With a Republican Congress gunning for the Clinton administration on espionage as it relates to China, the Los Alamos events could not have come at a more inopportune time. The Energy Department has come under some sharp criticism for the manner in which the nuclear labs have been functioning.

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Section  : International
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