DOE/SO-70-0008 (Deleted Version)

Eighth Report on Inadvertent Releases of Restricted Data and
Formerly Restricted Data under Executive Order 12958
(Deleted Version)(U)

Report to:

The Committee on Armed Services of the Senate
The Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives
The Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs

U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Classified and Controlled Information Review
Germantown, Maryland 20874

August 2002

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UNCLASSIFIED

The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1999 (Public Law (P.L.) 105-261) requires that the Secretary of Energy notify the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate, the Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives, and the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs of inadvertent releases of Restricted Data (RD) or Formerly Restricted Data (FRD) associated with records declassified under section 3.4 of Executive Order 12958.

As a result of the Department of Energy's (DOE's) examination of approximately one and a half million additional pages of publicly available records accessioned by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), the Department discovered an additional 166 documents containing 422 pages of RD and FRD which were inadvertently released:

Additional Pages Examined
Since Last Report:			1.5 million

Number of Documents 
with RD/FRD:				166

Number of Pages 
in the Documents:			10,568

Number of Pages RD:			189

Number of Pages FRD:			233

The identified documents are in collections belonging to the Department of State, the Department of Defense (Army, Navy, Defense Information Systems Agency, and Joint Staff). The documents were inadvertently declassified and made available to the public during the years from 1995 to 2000 by the Department of State, the Department of Defense, and NARA.

No classified documents of the DOE or its predecessor organizations were found.

The documents contained RD and FRD information, including:

RD

• mass or dimensions of fissile materials, pits, or nuclear assembly systems
• efficiency of nuclear materials
• tampers - mass, materials, design, or performance
• initiators / neutron generators - operation, functional relationships, or design
• boosting systems - operation, contribution to weapon performance, or design
• high explosives for nuclear weapons/device mass, design, or operation
• naval nuclear propulsion information

  FRD
  

• stockpile quantities
• storage locations and capacities
• yield and yield selection capability
• delivery system accuracy
• height/depth of burst
• weapons effect test information
• hardening, vulnerability, countermeasures, and survivability

A significant portion of the documents (151 of the 166) were improperly marked for classification level (e.g., Secret), classification category (e.g., RD), and/or automatic classification level downgrading. The improper markings occurred when the documents were originated, or at a later time during the lifetime of the documents. The improper marking of the documents for classification level, classification category and/or downgrading may have contributed to the inadvertent releases of the documents.

NARA, the Department of State, and the Department of Defense have been advised the specific documents contain RD and FRD. The 166 documents have been withdrawn from public access and protected in accordance with DOE requirements.

The inadvertently released nuclear weapons design information (RD) detailed in this report concerns the early generations of nuclear weapons that this country developed in the 1950s and 1960s. Potential adversaries, emerging proliferant nations and terrorist groups aggressively target U.S. nuclear weapon information. Information regarding older nuclear weapons is of significant value since it is often technically less sophisticated. These designs would be most readily used by a would-be nuclear proliferant to obtain its first nuclear weapon.

The inadvertently released naval nuclear propulsion information (also RD) addressed in this report could assist adversaries in the development of nuclear propulsion systems for their submarines and surface ships.

The inadvertently released nuclear weapons utilization information (FRD) detailed in this report could assist potential adversaries in assessing the strengths of the U.S. nuclear arsenal. Additionally, inadvertently released information on deployments of nuclear weapons outside of the U.S. may violate international agreements and harm diplomatic ties with foreign host nations.

DOE will be conducting an assessment of the damage to national security resulting from the inadvertent release of RD and FRD addressed in this report.

In accordance with P.L. 105-261, DOE has trained 1,783 individuals from other agencies to recognize RD and FRD information. This includes 174 individuals from the Department of State, 73 from the Department of the Air Force, 26 from the Department of Defense Joint Staff and 99 from NARA. Additionally, 137 individuals have attended refresher courses.

DOE and NARA are working to better integrate their efforts to more quickly identify and safeguard documents potentially containing RD and FRD. All records that may contain RD and FRD are removed from public access.

Details of the specific inadvertent releases are contained in the attached classified appendix.

[See the PDF Version of this Report for a tabulated breakdown of disclosures by agency, document date of origin, and type of information disclosed.]