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US Nuclear Weapons Lab Loses 67 Computers
pnorth writes "Officials from New Mexico's Los Alamos nuclear weapons laboratory have confessed that 67 of its computers are missing, with no less than 13 of them having disappeared over the past year alone. A memo [PDF] leaked by the Project on Government Oversight watchdog brought the lost nuclear laptops to the public's attention, but the Energy Department's National Nuclear Security Administration dismissed fears the computers contained highly-sensitive or classified information, noting it was more likely to cause 'cybersecurity issues.' Three of the 13 computers which went missing in the past year were stolen from a scientist's home on January 16 and the memo also mentioned a BlackBerry belonging to another staff member had been lost 'in a sensitive foreign country.' The labs faced similar issues back in 2003 when 22 laptops were designated as being 'unlocated.'"
I guess causing 'cybersecurity issues' is better than 'nuclear warfare issues'.
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Check the resident BOFH's stash closet...he will probably cut you a good deal on buying them back if you ask nice.
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What "cybersecurity issues" could arise that do not involve sensitive secrets to be leaked?
"Los Alamos Nuclear Weapons Laboratory and Taco Stand: Come for the Nukes; stay for the tacos. "
Announcer: "If we lose your sensitive nuclear secrets, your next contract is FREEEEEE!!!!"
And I'd like to be the king of all Londinium and wear a shiny hat.
At least they didn't lose any nukes.
How many times have I told you guys... first you short the receivables and then you steal the goods. Damn govt. employees can't even get a simple thing like scraping off the top right.
Which "sensitive foreign country"?
The cost of that cleanup, of course, will be borne by taxpayers, not industry.
three of the 13 computers which went missing in the past year were stolen from a scientist's home
Either this guy gets robbed a lot, or he's been stealing laptops.
Disclaimer: The opinions and actions of the US Gov't are in no way representative of those held by this author or its ci
Project on Government Oversight watchdog brought the lost nuclear laptops to the public's attention
so now they have nuclear laptops. WOW and mine still runs solar power.
Its not my fault, someone put a wall in my way.
Passwords and credit info in plaintext, or plain ordinary personal info.
The cost of that cleanup, of course, will be borne by taxpayers, not industry.
You could also just do it the easy way, and connect to a terminal server to work on sensitive stuff.
You do realize that Los Alamos, while it is a government project in the broad sense, is run by Los Alamos National Security LLC, a private, for profit, corporation?
That's it. My computer is not "lost"; it is merely "unlocated".
Exactly. This is why we need to trust everything to the private sector. Everything . Can you remember the last time you heard of a major corporation screwing something up? Huh? Didn't think so. They have shareholders to keep track of them, and we all know how dedicated and right they are please don't sell guys I need my yearly yacht. It's like how rock-solid the U.S. banking industry has been; they have actual human shareholders running it, not some government clones, and nothing's ever gone wrong.
This is why you should leave everything in the hands of untrained civilians and profit-driven shareholders. It just makes so much more sense that way.
What would be the estimated half-life of the battery? They've been holding out on us!
Other countries do it far better than US private industry can. The secret to running effective government services is not to appoint horse judges unless the task involve judging horses.
As always however, a mixture instead of an extreme is often the best solution.
Back to the original article - we've just come through a long period where "being a member of the party" is a better way to get ahead than acheivements. If that makes you think of Godwin's law so be it, but it personally makes me think of shoddy third world kleptocracies.
America's greatest threat to national security and the economy is the government itself.
That's correct, or more specifically the greatest threat is the mismanagement of government that allows it to operate outside of its legitimate roles which is why it can't correctly take care of basic things like this.
If the history of the 20th century isn't a lesson about the nature of government then I don't know what is. It's a shame that most people don't study this on their own so their primary exposure to it comes from government agents (known as "schoolteachers"). These people quite naturally believe in government (as opposed to regarding it as a necessary evil) or else they wouldn't work for it. Just do some research and add up all the known deaths during the 20th century that were caused by terrorism. Then do some more research and add up all the known deaths during the 20th century that were caused by people being murdered by their own governments. Compare those two numbers and note the vast difference in quantity. Tell me which is more dangerous.
It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - Einstein
National Nuclear Security Administration dismissed fears the computers contained highly-sensitive or classified information...
He explained that the NNSA has lists of highly sensitive and classified information, and none of the laptops appear on those lists. At least, none of the laptops appear on their remaining lists.
-Loyal
I aim to misbehave.
This never would have happened back in the good old days of the Princeton IAS machine. People took good care of their computers then. And kept track of them. You never would have caught a scientist taking one home.
And children respected their parents, and a dollar was a dollar, and we had wonderful music--not this modern stuff, it's noise, I tell you, just noise.
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
They had a blog about it
noting it was more likely to cause 'cybersecurity issues.'
This is a no-duh! type statement. Since actual classified material wasn't obtained, somehow the problem is less severe, right? After all, those 'cybersecurity issues' would never be used for anything as piddly as obtaining classified information.
Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this the point of espionage?
Disclaimer: The opinions and actions of the US Gov't are in no way representative of those held by this author or its ci
scores of intelligence personnel descended on all the pawn shops in Oklahoma. Also all New Zealanders in the US were understandably nervous. :P
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
Where are the guards? Where are the security personnel who watch doors to secret/classified labs containing computers with sensitive information? These are simple questions. They are about people with direct responsibility to the safeguarding of these computers. These sorts of people are people who don't always know what it is that they are guarding and thus may not know how vital their jobs are to this nation. I don't worry about these questions because they have easy answers like, "He took a long lunch", "No one was watching the door" etc. I worry about the other people. The people who walk by every day and notice something is missing but don't deign to ask a simple question, "where did that computer go?" 67 computers went missing and not one scientist noticed? Scientists are educated in the scientific method where a lack of information, or wrong information is seen as the enemy. Scientists should hold themselves duty bound to always tell the truth if only for the reason that if the truth is not told, there can be no progress. In truth, scientists should be as much the guardians of the information they are privy too as the people whose job it is to expressly guard those computers. What has become of these computers is just as an important a questions as what has become of our (the scientific community) morality. For if we can not change our attitudes towards our responsibilities then we can not change our behaviors in respect to them. For all our sakes, I hope they accidentally skipped a room when they were searching.
While you're quite wrong on a bunch of stuff, let me point out that just because someone is good at surface science or handling energy cross-sections doesn't make them any smarter in other ways. Or observant, for that matter.
Some of the smartest people I've ever known (including myself) have made some of the dumbest mistakes and said some of the dumbest things I've ever heard.
Disclaimer: The opinions and actions of the US Gov't are in no way representative of those held by this author or its ci
The Air Force can't keep track of the weapons, Los Alamos can't keep track of the technical data, why is Iran spending money to develop nuclear technology? The way we keep up with our shit, they could probably just get it off Ebay.
Why, without your clothes, you're naked, Miss Dudley!
... One computer at a time ...
New Mexico is a hot bed of drug smuggling and gang activity. IIRC a few years ago they raided a trailer of some employees for drugs and came up with stolen computer gear.
No international spy conspiracy, just people selling stolen goods to get high.
Still, this is really lax security in an area rife with crime.
putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
There are ~14000 employees at LANL. I'd guess 20,000 laptop and desktop machines. 0.1% loss per year isn't bad. There's nothing in the article to say when the other 67 might have fallen off the radar.
The "missing" computers were cannibalized for parts for the other computers.
It's a farce really, considering the Chinese already stole our nuclear secrets from Bush.
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Government incompetence. Hmmm. Like social security, the monetary system or the military? How about food and drug safety? Chlorinated water or municipal water supplies? Government can work fine. Of course, it doesn't work fine when conservatives slowly choke off the money, get the inevitable decreases in efficiency, and then proudly tout the government incompetence prior to shutting down yet another needed service to save money for their k-street corporate handlers. Examples of where this *doesn't* happen. Sweden. Denmark. Finland. Most of the Euro zone.
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C2CAM, always on the bleeding edge of news items relating to government conspiracy, aliens, ghosts and telekinetic lesbian space fish from the fourteenth dimension.
--- Do you believe in the day?
You're condemning government in general because of the actions of a few despotic regimes?
Your argument that we should examine the deaths caused by government vs those caused by terrorism is pretty weak. More people die in car accidents than from terrorists. Perhaps the problem is the propaganda being spread by those pro-car people (driving instructors)?
Analogies aside, government is just a tool of the people. Government itself doesn't hurt anyone. The army might. Blame them, if you like.
"A week in the lab saves an hour in the library"
I doubt it has anything to do with payoff, or any other type of corruption. It probably has more to do with them representing the only people available that possess the, extremely specialized, knowledge needed to do the work. A lab worth of scientists and engineers with experience designing/testing cutting edge nuclear weapons isn't something you just pick up on Monster.com.
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#1 - The DM is always right.
#2 - If the DM is wrong, see rule #1
Los Alamos is run, like all government research facilities, by PRIVATE contractors! Everyone always goes on about "Private Sector is better/more responsible than Government!" Well, every single one of these types of facilities and programs is run by PRIVATE COMPANIES under contract.
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Where is the insight? Right now hundreds of thousands of Americans are without healthcare. Many more have inadequate health care. Instead of this in many countries everyone has healthcare. Now admittedly in those countries everyone is subject to "government errors." BUT THEY ALL GET HEALTHCARE. What would be insightful would be to suggest a way for everyone to get healthcare without these types of problems. Maybe that is why some folks are so keen on electronic records? Better record keeping might reduce errors. Come on causality, let's hear some insight!
cogito ergo oro