Four Los Alamos lab workers fired over security, safety lapses

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September 24, 2004 (Computerworld) -- Four laboratory workers were fired from their jobs at the Los Alamos National Laboratory because of their roles in several recent security and safety incidents in the facility.
One other worker resigned in lieu of being fired, while seven other workers faced disciplinary actions, including demotions, pay cuts and suspensions or reprimands, according to Kevin Roark, a spokesman for the New Mexico-based facility. Another 10 workers who were under investigation in connection with the problems have returned to their jobs after being cleared of wrongdoing, according to Roark. One employee remains on paid leave.
The firings and other disciplinary actions were announced last week by the lab after investigations into several incidents, including the July disappearance of two removable computer disks containing classified nuclear weapons data (see story).
Last month, a U.S. Department of Energy report concluded that the lab's security procedures were inadequate for computers used for classified and unclassified research and called on the facility to tighten the security of its hardware (see story). And in July, laboratory officials at Los Alamos confirmed that workers had sent out an undisclosed number of classified e-mails over a nonsecure system (see story).
Roark said he couldn't comment further on the status of the incidents and whether any of the missing disks have been recovered because the investigation is continuing.
The incidents led to the suspension in July of most of the work being done at the lab. Since then, it has resumed all of its lowest-security-level work and more than 50% of its higher Level 2 activities, Roark said. The lab expects to be fully operational in mid-October, he said, after security, operational and procedural changes have been fully implemented.
The Los Alamos lab is operated by the University of California for the National Nuclear Security Administration of the Department of Energy.

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