Richardson says FBI has determined drives did not leave Los Alamos

June 21, 2000
Web posted at: 6:54 PM EDT (2254 GMT)

By Ian Christopher McCaleb/CNN

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Two highly sensitive computer hard drives that were missing from the Los Alamos National Laboratories earlier this year never left the premises, and the FBI has uncovered no hints of espionage in the case, Energy Secretary Bill Richardson told a Senate committee Wednesday.

Energy Secretary Bill Richardson

The two hard drives, each smaller than a deck of playing cards, held vital nuclear weapons secrets and were stored in a secured vault at the storied New Mexico nuclear weapons laboratory.

In a statement opening a lengthy and touchy hearing of Senate Armed Services Committee, Richardson said: "Based upon the investigation by the FBI so far, there is no evidence of espionage, nor is there evidence the drives have ever left Los Alamos."

Richardson added that the FBI seems to be on the verge of reconstructing what happened to the drives, saying, "Latent fingerprints were found on the scene, and on the external wrappings of the drives themselves."

The FBI continues to comb the "crime scene" -- a room housing a copy machine -- and a grand jury has been convened, Richardson said, punctuating his statement with a declaration that a handful of so-called Los Alamos "X-Division" employees have offered conflicting statements to investigators.

The secretary speculated that the disappearance of the hard drives may have been an unintentional mistake by a lab employee, who feared coming forward when alarms were raised.

"I will not take (disciplinary) action until I have all the facts before me," he said, vowing, "I will not rest until I know what happened -- when, where, why and by whom."

The FBI has said the drives disappeared "at the tail-end of March of this year, March 28," Richardson said. Should the FBI's timeline prove correct, reports issued at the beginning of this week that the drives have been missing since January could be called into question.

The two hard drives were discovered missing on May 7, when weapons scientists took an inventory of the drives stored within a vault at the laboratory's X-Division as a massive wildfire approached the facility. The section is perhaps the most sensitive area of the facility, and is where the most classified nuclear weapons research, design and development is undertaken.

The scientists had been tasked with checking to assure that all of the division's drives were safely within the vault in the event that the lab would have to be evacuated. An evacuation was ordered the next day because of the fire threat, but no one reported the drives missing until May 31, sparking a massive search of the area -- and deep anger in Washington.

The drives contain vital information on the makeup of U.S., Russian, Chinese and French nuclear weapons. They mysteriously reappeared last Friday in a room at the lab that already had been searched several times.

Richardson's pledge to bring accountability to bear on those responsible for the missing drives was met with cold stares from committee members of both parties. Members of the Senate have awaited the secretary's appearance for several days, after he last week declined an opportunity to offer Senate testimony, saying he wanted to wait until he had more information.

Sen. Strom Thurmond

The safety of weapons secrets has dogged Richardson for much of his tenure as Energy Secretary. During his watch, Los Alamos scientist Wen Ho Lee was removed from his position amid charges of spying. He has been formally charged with mishandling classified information -- not espionage -- and awaits trial.

Members of Congress have also raised red flags over the reported sale of computers once used at the Savannah River nuclear weapons facility in Augusta, Georgia. Those computers, two senators intimated Wednesday, may have once contained classified information that could have been reconstructed by their new owners.

Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-South Carolina) suggested at Wednesday's hearings that some of the Savannah River computers may have been sold to the People's Republic of China.

Sen. John Warner

In his opening statement, Armed Services Chairman John Warner (R-Virginia) lined Richardson himself up for accountability, saying that although Richardson has worked to change the security culture at the Energy Department and the national laboratories, ultimately, responsibility for ongoing lapses rests with him.

"Mr. Secretary," Warner said directly to Richardson, "On June 23rd of last year you told this committee, in this room: 'The secretary of Energy,' and I quote you, '...must be accountable and must be responsible" for such security failures.

" ... We are holding you accountable," Warner said. "These incidents happened on your watch. Like the captain of a ship, you must bear full accountability."

Appearing at the hearing, Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Alabama), chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, repeated his earlier calls for Richardson's resignation, saying, "I think it's time for you to go."

Harsher still was the criticism leveled by Sen. Robert Byrd (D-West Virginia), a member of Richardson's own party, who said Richardson's pledges to get to the bottom of the case would not sway the opinion of the Senate, whose trust he had lost permanently.

Sen. Richard Shelby

"The horse is out of the barn," Byrd said. Referring to Richardson's refusal to testify last week, Byrd said, "You've waited and shown contempt of Congress that borders on supreme arrogance."

Speaking directly to Richardson, a one-time congressman and former Ambassador to the United Nations, Byrd said, "You had a bright and brilliant career, but you will never again receive the support of the U.S. Senate for any office you seek. You have squandered your treasure."

Richardson, who at times looked stunned by the tone taken by many committee members, sought to defend himself -- arguing that he wanted to have "all the facts" in hand before making a congressional appearance. He added that he had made vast changes in the security culture at the department and in the nation's weapons laboratories, and had put off a good many longtime employees as a consequence.

"I've been excoriated, but if you go into the scientific and academic community, I am driving scientists away." He also said he has been accused of racism in the Wen Ho Lee case, and has had to battle members of own party who saw regular polygraph tests for employees as a violation of civil rights.

Sen. James Inhofe (R-Oklahoma) suggested that the "captain of the ship" wasn't Richardson, but President Bill Clinton, who Inhofe said was responsible for a variety of security policy changes and leaks to the media that have led to a relaxed, careless attitude among those charged with overseeing the nation's weapons secrets.

Also appearing before the panel was Dr. John Browne, director of the Los Alamos facility.

Dr. John Browne

Browne, while attempting to illustrate for panel members -- with charts -- just how difficult it is to gain access to the X-Division, admitted that his security operatives have lost control over how classified information is handled -- mainly because there is no set procedure to determine who handled much of the material and when.

"This is not an environment one can easily get into," he said.

Still, Browne said, "there is a serious loss of control over classified information at my laboratory," adding, perhaps for the benefit of committee members, that he had "no knowledge that the information has been compromised or tampered with.

"From a national security perspective, these are positive indications."

Richardson was congratulated by Sen. Pete Domenici (R-New Mexico) for ceding all weapons security issues to a newly confirmed director of a semi-autonomous agency formed to assess and reformulate all security procedures.

Sen. Pete Domenici

Air Force Gen. John Gordon, confirmed by the Senate to helm the agency but not as yet sworn into the post, will report to Richardson, but will not be directed by anyone else at the Energy Department.

The Senate had held up Gordon's confirmation for months for unspecified reasons, but he was unanimously confirmed last week after news of the hard drives' disappearance was released.

"The best thing you could do to leave a legacy for America in terms of nuclear weapons is to [get this agency operational]," Domenici said, scolding Richardson not to engage in any "dual-hatting," and let Gordon make the changes he needs to make.

Warner was less congratulatory, warning Richardson outright that he must honor the 1999 law creating the agency and allow it to go about its business unfettered.

The panel closed its session to the public and members of the media just after noon on Wednesday so specifics of the case could be discussed. Domenici predicted earlier in the day that a closed session would yield much more in the way of disturbing information.

"We could go into a closed session, and you wouldn't believe the things you'd hear in there," he said. "These things have to be corrected too."

When the Armed Services proceedings ended at mid-afternoon, Richardson told reporters he just wanted "to do his job" and conclude the investigation. He said the fallout from the security breach was "too political," adding, "I did not utter one partisan word in that committee."

Later in the day, the Select Intelligence Committee held a closed-door hearing on the matter. Richardson was in attendance.

Shelby, the secretive panel's chairman, emerged from that gathering late in the afternoon, and told reporters he was even "more disturbed" than he had been earlier in the day.

The hard drives, Shelby said, contained vital information that could be of great use to terrorists. He did not elaborate on the nature of that information, but said that additional hearings on the matter would be scheduled for next week.