Friday, November 03, 2006

Missing: Nuke Secrets

Not only has the Bush administration been posting nuclear weapons secrets onThe Internets, but they've apparently misplaced information on how to deactivate locks on nuclear weapons.


Remind me again who is weak on national security?

Last week we read about a security breach in which classified documents where found on a computer in a raid on a meth-dealers house(not the male-escort meth-dealer).


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.


And I repeat, who is weak on national security? Not only does:


*the White House have X-rays capable of detecting liquid explosive, and airports do not,

*Security Screeners faily to find 20 of 22 weapons in a security test @ airports

*The GOP posts nuclear diagrams on the internet

*the GOP try and sell our ports to Dubai

*The GOP fail to catch the Anthrax killer

(to name a few)


But we acciently, kinda sorta, let top secret information on nuclear weapon locks, walk out of Los Alamos and into the hands of a meth dealer?


Multiple sources now tell CBS News that the material includes sensitive weapons-design data.


A federal official who has been briefed on the issue said at least three USB thumb-drives were involved. Those small storage drives contained 408 separate classified documents ranging in importance from Secret National Security Information (pertaining to intelligence) to Secret Restricted Data (pertaining to nuclear weapons).


All of the information came from the classified document video media vault inside the Lab. Federal officials also found 228 pages -- printed front and back -- of classified documents in the drug trailer during their investigation.


But thats ok because...


"the majority of the material was classified at the lowest levels and was twenty to thirty years old."


And our orignal nuclear weapons are over 50 years old, lets just put those up on Ebay and make some cash to pay off Mark Foley's rehab bills. Ohh wait, taxpayer money pays for that. Moving on...


But one federal official recently briefed on the issue says "It's devastating." If a nuclear weapon were stolen, the information "would tell the terrorists everything they need to do to get a weapon to fire."


Sources say she also had something called Sigma-15 clearance allowing her to access to documents explaining how to deactivate locks on a nuclear weapon.


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.


So tell me again... who's weakon national security?