Los Alamos Official Resigns

John Mitchell, who had been Deputy Director at the Laboratory for less than a year, is resigning.  Of course his retirement has 'absolutely no connection to any security issues at the Laboratory.'  It does seem coincidental his email announcement of retirement came on the same day the 'CBS Early Show aired an exclusive report about how easy it was for a young lab worker to walk out with classified documents.'

The Los Alamos National Laboratory and nuclear weapons lab suffered a security breach. Classified documents taken from the facility were found in one scientist's home in New Mexico during a drug raid connected to a methamphetamine investigation.  It seems 'Los Alamos has a history of high-profile security problems in the past decade, with the most notable the case of nuclear scientist Wen Ho Lee. After years of accusations, Lee pleaded guilty in a plea bargain to one count of mishandling nuclear secrets at the lab.'

Twenty-two-year-old Jessica Quintana, a former weapons data archivist at Los Alamos, had actual Los Alamos documents and several portable storage devices (thumb drives) containing classified documents in her trailer when she it was raided in a drug bust.

Sources say Quintana had a top secret security clearance that allowed her access to such sensitive information as how to deactivate the locks on nuclear weapons. She was tasked with archiving data from decades of U.S. underground nuclear weapons tests. Quintana walked out of the lab unchecked last August with the documents and thumb drives in her backpack.

Today, Representative Ed Markey of the House Energy and Commerce Committee told CBS News: "No matter how many times you rearrange, re-design, retire or replace the deck chairs, Los Alamos is still the Titanic. Superficial attempts to demonstrate that there is any accountability at the lab will yield no useful results until the systemic and long-standing security failures associated with both management and lab culture are fixed."  source

Also read Serbia's little shop of nuclear horrors inviting to terrorists 

On the subject of nuclear weapons and WMD, "The FBI yesterday announced the creation of an investigative division focused on weapons of mass destruction, part of Director Robert S. Mueller III's latest reorganization plan aimed at gathering intelligence and preventing terrorist attacks."

 

Check out a new site, Uran Infidel and their latest post, Crash of the Lynne Stewart 'Gloat Party'

Also read Russia's Spies: Was West Blinded by Cutbacks? at Blogbat.  A very informative and well researched article, and includes a list of further related reading.

RealClearPolitics has two articles from Jihadi du Jour, American Iamamania
and Not Just The Veil, New Islamic Fashions

Linked with:

Faux News: or The Rabbi Who Stole ChristmaS, Woman Honor Thyself
Pimped, 123Beta
Please Send Money, 123Beta

Victoria’s Secret and C-BS at The HILL Chronicles

• M. Courting Destiny (M, W) My Horiscope
• M. Bloggin' Outloud (M, F.)
• M. The Land of Ozz Gingerbread Train
• M. DragonLady's World OTA Monday
• M. Committees of Correspondence OTA
• M. The Tar Pit
• M. Pirates! Man your Women!
• M. WebKittyn Warbles
• M. Forward Biased
• M. Urban Paradise Unconscious Mutterings
• M. Perri Nelson's Website (M, W, F) OTA Monday

Comments

[Perri Nelson]

It's frightening to contemplate the incredibly lax security at Los Alamos. This sort of thing merits more than a simple resignation. After a decade of security breach after security breach you'd think things would have changed.
There should be a criminal investigation into the poor security practices. It's obvious that the security protocols need to be changed at the very least.

[Layla]

Thanks Debbie! I posted a little response back at my place...so as not to be redundant!!! LOL!

[Layla]

I sent you a trackback hun I hope you got it! :)