FAS | Government Secrecy | June 2000 News ||| Index | Search | Join FAS


Federation of American Scientists
307 Massachusetts Avenue N.E.
Washington, DC 20002

June 22, 2000

Senator James M. Inhofe
SR-453 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-3603
by fax: (202)228-0380

Dear Senator Inhofe:

I am writing to call your attention to a serious error in your statement at the June 21 hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Security Failures at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

You accused former Energy Secretary Hazel O’Leary of leaking classified information about the W87 nuclear warhead to U.S. News and World Report, which appeared in the July 31, 1995 issue of that magazine. Last year, Congressman Curt Weldon repeatedly made a similar charge on the House floor.

That accusation is demonstrably false. Consider the following:

Obviously, your charge against Secretary O’Leary is false.

In the interests of common decency, I urge you to publicly retract your accusation and apologize to Secretary O’Leary.

I am also writing to Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Warner to ask that your accusation against Secretary O’Leary be stricken from the record of the hearing, or that it be annotated as a false charge.

* * *
Like most of your Committee colleagues, you seem to be unaware that Secretary O’Leary’s classification reform program encompassed something called the “Higher Fences Initiative.” This would have entailed upgrading the classification of some of the most sensitive nuclear weapons secrets from the Secret RD-level to the Top Secret RD-level.

If Secretary O’Leary’s Higher Fences Initiative had been implemented, the disappearance of the Los Alamos hard drives might never have occurred, since stricter accountability measures are required for Top Secret RD.

But after several years of advocacy by the Department of Energy, the Higher Fences Initiative was finally blocked by the Department of Defense. I attach for your information a December 17, 1999 letter to General Habiger rejecting DOE’s Higher Fences Initiative.


Federation of American Scientists
307 Massachusetts Avenue N.E.
Washington, DC 20002

June 22, 2000

Senator John Warner, Chairman
Senate Armed Services Committee
SR-228 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-6050

Dear Chairman Warner:

I am writing to call your attention to a serious error in the record of the June 21 hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Security Failures at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Senator Inhofe accused former Energy Secretary Hazel O’Leary of leaking classified information about the W87 nuclear warhead to U.S. News and World Report, which appeared in the July 31, 1995 issue of that magazine.

That disturbing accusation is demonstrably false. Consider the following:

Obviously, Senator Inhofe’s charge against Secretary O’Leary is false.

In the interests of common decency, I urge you to strike this false accusation from the record of the June 21 hearing. Alternatively, I would ask you to include this letter in the record to indicate that Senator Inhofe’s charge is contested and is, in fact, false.

* * *

Secretary O’Leary’s classification reform program has been widely misunderstood and misconstrued in Congress and the media. The Committee seems to be unaware that her efforts encompassed something called the “Higher Fences Initiative.” This would have entailed upgrading the classification of some of the most sensitive nuclear weapons secrets from the Secret RD-level to the Top Secret RD-level.

If Secretary O’Leary’s Higher Fences Initiative had been implemented, the disappearance of the Los Alamos hard drives might never have occurred, since stricter accountability measures are required for Top Secret RD.

But after several years of advocacy by the Department of Energy, the Higher Fences Initiative was finally blocked by the Department of Defense.

I attach for your information a December 17, 1999 letter to General Habiger rejecting DOE’s Higher Fences Initiative.




FAS | Government Secrecy | June 2000 News ||| Index | Search | Join FAS