Tuesday, June 15, 1999
Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board issues security report
A presidential panel Monday released a report highly critical of security at the national laboratories and within the Department of Energy. "Science at its Best. Security at its Worst" was prepared over the last three months by a special investigative panel of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board. The report calls for major organizational changes in DOE's administration of the labs.
Energy Secretary Bill Richardson's recent security initiatives drew praise from the Board, but it noted that nuclear weapon secrets remain inadequately protected despite those efforts.
The Board reviewed more than 700 reports and studies, visited several DOE facilities and interviewed scores of present and former managers, scientists and DOE officials. Members came to Los Alamos on May 6 and several members of Laboratory management and staff interacted again with the panel members on May 26.
The report offered no conclusions on espionage allegations, stating only that "some very damaging security compromises may have occurred," but they concurred with the earlier findings of the independent review by Admiral Jeremiah of the damage assessment conducted by the Director of Central Intelligence.
The panel emphasized that the nuclear weapons laboratories must maintain strong ties with other DOE labs and the wider scientific community, based on an historical truth: "Nations that honor and advance freedom of inquiry have fared better than those who have sought to arbitrarily suppress and control the community of science."
However, the panel concluded that the nuclear weapons and research functions of DOE need more autonomy, a clearer mission, and a streamlined bureaucracy and increased accountability. Former U.S. Sen. Warren Rudman chaired the panel. Members included Sidney Drell, Stephen Friedman and Ann Caracristi.
After reviewing the report's foreword, Director John Browne issued the following statement:
The Laboratory has an important national mission to maintain the safety and reliability of our nation's nuclear deterrent without nuclear testing. This mission must be conducted in a secure fashion. The rapid advances in computing and communications technology have made security more challenging.
Energy Secretary Richardson's actions during the past year have addressed many of the report's findings. We have been and will be working closely with the Department, the Administration and the Congress to implement those and further improvements promptly and efficiently.
The dramatic changes recommended by the panel in the management of the nuclear weapons program require a careful analysis to ensure that the resulting organizational structure is able to carry out its important national mission. The Laboratory will fully cooperate with the Department of Energy and other government officials in the evaluation of proposed reforms.
Our employees know that security is paramount and they embrace the Board's demand for effective security. Effective security is an absolutely necessary companion to the excellent science required to carry out our important national security missions.
In the long run, it is you, the employees, who will make the real difference. In this, we agree with the Board, which stated:
"Even if every aspect of the ongoing structural reforms is fully implemented, the most powerful guarantor of security at the nation's weapons laboratories will not be laws, regulations, or management charts. It will be the attitudes and behavior of the men and women who are responsible for the operation of the labs each day. These will not change overnight, and they are likely to change only in a different cultural environment -- one that values security as a vital and integral part of day-to-day activities and believes it can coexist with great science."
This is the essence of our Six Zeros goal of zero safeguards and security incidents. We must improve and enhance our security culture to deal with the challenges of the 21st Century while preserving the great science that underpins our mission.
Editor's note: Energy Secretary Bill Richardson issued the following statement in response to "Science at its best. Security at its worst: A Report on Security Problems at the U.S. Department of Energy." a report released Monday by a special investigative panel of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board.
Statement by Secretary of Energy Richardson
I would like to commend the review of security and counterintelligence at the Department of Energy's weapons laboratories done by the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (PFIAB). Chairman Rudman and his panel have put vigorous effort into this report and have brought forward important recommendations that underscore the importance of the aggressive changes we've made to address serious and systemic security problems at the Department's nuclear weapons labs.
Since taking over as Secretary nothing has been a higher priority for me and I appreciate the Panel's recognition of the actions we've already taken to correct these problems.
I agree with the Report's conclusion that serious change is needed in the Department's organizational structure. That is what motivated the sweeping organizational changes we are making to strengthen the management of the Department by establishing clear lines of authority and accountability. In fact I've gone so far as to have the security office report directly to me. The PFIAB recommendations are helpful in that they propose to codify many of the changes I have announced over the past seven weeks.
In fact, I believe the security and counterintelligence problems at the Department of Energy are broader than the Board recognizes. These problems cut across the entire Department and are not limited to the weapons labs and production sites. The Department of Energy needs to improve security at all of its sites. Plutonium located at our Environmental Management sites demands the same level of security as Plutonium at Los Alamos National Laboratory, and classified research at Argonne National Laboratory needs to be just as secure from espionage as nuclear designs at the Livermore National Laboratory.
I have strong reservations about the Board's recommendation to establish a semi-independent or independent agency for nuclear weapons matters. By establishing an autonomous security structure within a new agency, the Board's recommendation would risk eroding the link between national security and "science at its best," which has been the strength of our nuclear deterrent from its very inception. I am also concerned that the U.S. nuclear deterrent deserves cabinet level attention. The Board's recommendation would place it in a less prominent position where the tension between programmatic goals and security would persist.
These are serious issues that deserve full and continuing discussion. We will study the PFIAB's recommendations in more detail and assess what additional recommendations we should incorporate into our ongoing efforts to ensure that the Department of Energy security and counterintelligence are the best in the US government.
Lab awards new contracts under tech maturation program
The Laboratory recently awarded $200,000 worth of new contracts to eight small, high-tech businesses in Northern New Mexico to help them further develop or commercialize their products.
The funding comes from the Technology Maturation and Commercialization Program run by the Civilian and Industrial Technology Program Office (CIT-PO). The program, now in its second year, is part of the Laboratory's' ongoing efforts to boost regional economic development in Northern New Mexico.
"Both the number and quality of proposals were great this year, so the situation was very competitive," said Sue Fenimore, project leader for the Small Business Initiative in CIT. "All indications are that the program will continue to draw more interested businesses over the years." The Lab awarded $146,000 worth of contracts last year.
Three of the eight contract recipients received tech maturation funding last year: ErgoTech Systems in Los Alamos, Chama Valley Productions in Chama and Positive Energy Inc. in Santa Fe. The new recipients are AweSoft Engineering Inc. in Jemez Springs, Flexible Liner Underground Technologies Ltd. Co. in Pojoaque, 54Go in Farmington, Kinetisis in Los Alamos and STAR Cryoelectronics LLC, also in Los Alamos. Awards ranged from about $9,000 to about $34,000.
Positive Energy plans to use its new funding for final development of a solar electrical thermal hydronic (hot water) control and distribution technology that increases hot water heating efficiency in solar electric-powered homes by 80 percent, and to develop user manuals.
Chama Valley Productions will use its new funding to design and manufacture a prototype mobile rock-fall fence for installation along highways for slope stabilization and avalanche control.
ErgoTech received new funding to enable testing of its new Java-based control technology for two-way processing equipment communications in the semiconductor industry. The technology can run on any computing platform and is Internet/Intranet ready.
AweSoft has developed a Windows-based software application called Topo3D, which uses U.S. Geological Survey raw data to display three-dimensional terrain models in real time. AweSoft will use its award to help commercialize the software.
Flexible Liner specializes in trenchless technology, comprising various methods for installing and fixing underground utility systems with minimal surface disruption and destruction caused by excavation. The Los Alamos award will enable the company to fabricate a pressure feed-through device for use in installing cured-in-place liners into sewer pipes or gas lines to seal crack and leaks.
54Go markets a noncorrosive, nonhazardous product that enhances oil production from slow or plugged formations by changing the viscosity of heavy crude oils. It also is used in the bioremediation of coal-tar creosote (resulting from high-temperature treatment of coal) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon-contaminated materials. The Los Alamos award will be used to perform additional product field testing and laboratory analyses.
Kinetisis is a start-up company that specializes in Laboratory-developed low-temperature film deposition processing technology and will use its award to purchase analytical equipment.
STAR Cryoelectronics also is a start-up company that soon will begin designing and manufacturing magnetometers called low-temperature superconducting quantum interference devices, or SQUIDS. This company will use its award to manufacture two different mask designs.
--Ternel N. Martinez
Former Cochiti Pueblo governor to present colloquium
Joseph Suina, past governor of Cochiti Pueblo and education professor at the University of New Mexico, will present a Director's Colloquium at 1:10 p.m. today in the Physics Building Auditorium. In his presentation,"From Bows and Arrows to the Atom Bomb," Suina will explore the relationship between the Laboratory and pueblos. For more information, see the June 11 Daily Newsbulletin.
Deadline Friday to vote for 'Safety for Life' posters
Laboratory employees and subcontract personnel can vote for their favorite Safety for Life posters through Friday.
Thirty-seven posters designed by grade-school through high-school students from around Northern New Mexico were submitted to the Lab for judging. The poster contest is part of a number of activities designed to raise awareness of safety Labwide, said Phil Thullen who oversees the Lab's Integrated Safety Management program in the Director's Office.
More than 125 schools in Northern New Mexico received a letter earlier this spring asking them to participate in the poster contest. Flyers announcing the contest also were distributed through mail stops Labwide.
Employees and subcontract personnel can view all the posters at http://www.lanl.gov/orgs/ism/safetyposter99.html online. The posters also will be displayed for viewing in the lobby of the Otowi Building near the entrance to the Human Resources (HR) Division at Technical Area 3.
After viewing the posters, employees and subcontractors can choose their favorite poster -- they can click on the individual posters to enlarge them for viewing. Employees or subcontractors can cast their vote by choosing from a drop-down list of the posters, then clicking on the "submit entry" button. Employees and subcontractors should only vote once, said Fran Talley of the Public Affairs (PA) Office.
The "Safety for Life" safety poster contest is sponsored by the Laboratory, University of California, Johnson Controls Northern New Mexico and Protection Technology Los Alamos.
"This poster contest helps children think about safety at their school, home and workplace," said Thullen. "By getting children to talk about safety at a young age, they will grow up to become safe workers.
"The contest also reminds Lab employees that we need to be safe in our workplaces and at home and think about safety every day," he said.
Students were asked to design a poster in any medium -- paint, pencil, pen, charcoals, oils -- that depicts positive safety actions or behaviors students observe at home, school, work and play. The first-place winner in each category receives a $100 gift certificate.
The winning artworks will be made into posters and placed Labwide to reinforce the message of safety, said Talley. Posters also will be displayed and winners announced at the "Safety for Life Community Safety Expo" June 24 in downtown Los Alamos, she said, adding that June is National Safety Month in the United States.
All participating students will receive a "Safety for Life" certificate of participation, Talley added.
For more information, call Talley at 7-5225 or write to flt@lanl.gov by electronic mail.
Top 10 trim tips The American Institute for Cancer Research Newsletter published these 10 tips to help reduce the risk of cancer. 1. Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables -- at least five servings per day. 2. Move every day -- engage in some sort of daily physical activity. 3. Debunk the "fat-free" myth -- even fat-free foods must be eaten in moderation. 4. Give your food the attention it deserves -- savor your meals and cut back on munching. 5. Snack from a plate, not a package -- it is easier to overdo it snacking out of a package. 6. Lend your stomach an ear -- don't eat for reasons other than hunger, and even limit that. 7. Address emotions -- eating will not solve problems. 8. Resign from the "clean plate club" -- try to keep part of your meal for leftovers. 9. Avoid the "Now I've blown it" syndrome -- splurging occasionally doesn't mean you have "blown it." 10. Take things one step at a time -- gradually work into healthy lifestyle changes. |
DOE Pulse highlights DOE laboratories
The latest edition of the Department of Energy's online publication that focuses on work being done at its national laboratories is out. DOE Pulse comes out twice a month, and each issue includes research highlights, updates on collaborations among laboratories and profiles of researchers at DOE labs.
Some of the headlines included in this issue are "Between a rock and a hard-to-analyse non-conducting surface" from Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, "IR device reduces assembly-line trauma" from Oak Ridge National Laboratory, "Most distant radio galaxy identified" from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and "Natural gas vans help clear the air" from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
Profiled in this issue is a meteorologist from Argonne National Laboratory who visits schools throughout the year teaching science to kindergarten through high school students. go to
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Editor's Note: In recognition of National Men's Health Week,
June 14 through 20, the Daily Newsbulletin is publishing a health tip every
day this week. The information will include methods of detecting certain
health problems during early stages. Topics to be covered during Men's Health
Week include heart disease, stroke, blood pressure, cholesterol, colon cancer,
prostate cancer, testicular cancer and alcoholism. National Men's Health
Week was created to increase knowledge of men's health issues, especially
early detection of illness through education and routine medical visits.
For more about Men's Health Week, contact the Wellness Center (ESH-2) at
7-7166. To receive a free health booklet, call 1-800-955-2002.
Benefits termination presentation
every Thursday at 8:30 a.m.