DOE NEWS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 25, 2000NEWS MEDIA CONTACT:
Matt Nerzig, 202/586-4940"As I requested on June 13, 2000, former Senator Baker and former Representative Hamilton today reported back to President Clinton and myself on the circumstances surrounding the loss of the two hard drives at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. It is a constructive and positive report. STATEMENT BY SECRETARY RICHARDSON
"I agree with the report that action must be taken to enable the Los Alamos National Laboratory to fully resume their vitally important scientific work in an improved security structure. As the report notes, "among the known consequences of the hard-drive incident the most worrisome is the devastating effect on the morale and productivity of the laboratory," which plays a critical national security role for the Nation.
"It is imperative that action be taken to strengthen security and restore morale at the national weapons laboratories. Toward that end, and as the report notes, the department has already implemented significant security improvements, including the encryption and tracking of sensitive data. At the same time, we plan on taking steps to better manage the work of the laboratories by integrating science and security issues. Furthermore, the Administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration is developing, within 45 days, a set of specific measures to implement the corrective actions outlined in the report."
-DOE-