FBI probe targets Los Alamos employees; senators call for energy secretary to resign

June 18, 2000
Web posted at: 12:22 p.m. EDT (1622 GMT)

In this story: Republicans call on Richardson to resign Energy secretary is 'outraged' RELATED STORIES, SITES

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- With Republicans calling for his resignation, U.S. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson said Sunday that the FBI is focusing on a few Los Alamos nuclear lab employees over the loss and reappearance of two computer hard drives containing nuclear secrets.

All 26 people with access to the so-called "X division" at the New Mexico lab have taken lie-detector tests, Richardson said on NBC's "Meet the Press." A few, he said, appeared to give "contradictory" answers.

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"It could be the case that one of these individuals misplaced the drives," Richardson said, adding that there is no evidence the hard drives were copied or left the division. "What we now have is a potential cover-up, or some other factors that have to be determined."

Meanwhile, two Republican senators on Sunday called on Richardson to resign.

"He should step down," U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama said on CBS' "Face the Nation."

"I don't believe he served the president well," Shelby said of Richardson. "I don't believe he served the nation well."

Shelby, chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said he has asked Richardson to meet with the committee Tuesday in closed session. "He's got a lot to be accountable for," Shelby said.

The Republican senator said the security breach at Los Alamos -- the second major lapse at the lab discovered in a little more than a year -- "is just another example of the lax attitude" toward security in the Clinton administration.

He cited a recent loss of sensitive laptop computers at the State Department and the failure to prevent the transfer of secret documents to an unsecure personal computer at the home of a former director of the CIA.

Republican Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona also called for Richardson to resign.

"He said, 'The buck stops with me; I'm in charge,'" said Kyl, a member of the intelligence committee. "You heard him here assuming full responsibility by blaming others. That's not the way to assume full responsibility."

Richardson spent Sunday morning on political talk shows, trying to explain what happened and appease lawmakers on Capitol Hill who are outraged over the latest security breach.

"We may have here a security lapse that involved an individual that misplaced something and tried to engage in contradictory behavior, and, hopefully, we'll get to the bottom of this," Richardson said.

The drives were discovered missing May 7, but the Department of Energy was not notified of their absence until June 1, almost four weeks later. Regulations call for the department to be notified within eight hours.

The drives were found June 16 behind a copier machine in the same high-security area in which they had been stored -- and which had been searched twice by investigators seeking the drives.

The drives are being analyzed by the FBI to determine if they were tampered with and whether they are authentic, authorities have said. Officials said the hard drives were being sent to Washington on Sunday.

"This is inexcusable; I'm outraged," Richardson said Sunday of the security breach. "It's incomprehensible what happened. I'm going to take action. I'm going to get to the bottom of this. There's going to be accountability."

Last year, Wen Ho Lee, a top scientist at Los Alamos was fired amid accusations of espionage. Lee has been charged with mishandling classified information and is awaiting trial. He has pleaded not guilty.

Richardson, challenged on assertions he made last year that America's "nuclear secrets are now safe," said Sunday that he has improved security at the facility.

"What I should have said, what I didn't take into account, is that the lab culture needs to be changed," said Richardson. "I didn't take in the human element."

Security upgrades already have been instituted, he said, particularly new log-in procedures for the people who have access to the high-security area.

Richardson, who has been mentioned as a possible running mate for Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore, said he is "focusing 100 per cent on my job."

Reuters contributed to this report.

Los Alamos lab director: Hard drives may have reappeared to cover crime
June 17, 2000
Missing nuclear secrets found behind Los Alamos copy machine
June 16, 2000
Senate hearing examines loss of nuclear secrets at Los Alamos lab
June 14, 2000
Secret nuclear information missing from Los Alamos lab
June 12, 2000
Conflicting opinions on Los Alamos fire heard on Capitol Hill
June 7, 2000
EPA: Data indicates no fire-unleashed radiation at Los Alamos
May 19, 2000
Fire moves onto Los Alamos nuclear lab property; 14,000 area residents evacuated
May 11, 2000

Los Alamos National Laboratory
Department of Energy
House Committee on Commerce: 106th Congress
University of California, Berkeley
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Atomic Energy Act and Related Legislation
Scientific Freedom and National Security

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