The Associated Press
LOS ALAMOS — Two items containing classified information are missing from Los Alamos National Laboratory, a lab spokesman said Friday.
The items — so-called "Classified Removable Electronic Media" — were discovered missing from the Weapons Physics Directorate during an inventory check Wednesday, lab spokesman Kevin Roark said.
While Roark refused to say if the items contained information that could jeopardize national security if in the wrong hands, he said the CREM items could include products like compact flash disks, CDs and floppy disks.
A search was under way Friday, and lab Director Peter Nanos said he would order a full inquiry into what happened.
"In order to operate effectively, this apparent lack of attention to CREM issues must be dealt with swiftly and decisively," Nanos said.
This is the second such incident in recent months. Material also classified as CREM was reported missing in May. That data had been set to be destroyed before it went missing, Roark said at the time.
Roark acknowledged Friday that this situation is different because the items were to be used for an upcoming experiment and are in fact missing. He added that Nanos' tone is also different this time.
"What's different in this case is the director is saying this won't stand," Roark said. "If you can't keep track of classified material, then you can't work at Los Alamos anymore. The director is serious."
U.S. Rep. Tom Udall, D-N.M., said he was incensed by this latest security failure at the northern New Mexico lab.
"That this is occurring in the current atmosphere of heightened security awareness is intolerable. . . . At this point, the lab needs to ramp up their plans to move all this classified information to secure servers," Udall said. "We also need a full investigation to get to the bottom of what went wrong here."
Department of Energy and National Nuclear Security Administration officials have been notified of the latest incident.
In recent years, the lab taken steps to reduce CREM inventory, reevaluate its procedures and retrain personnel.
Nanos said the new policies and procedures address many security concerns. "However, once again, the failure of individuals to follow prescribed standards and protocols has brought disrepute to Los Alamos," he said.
Pete Stockton with the Project on Government Oversight in Washington D.C., said it's time for the Department of Energy to take a more active role in the investigation.
"We really believe that (Energy Secretary Spencer) Abraham should send a team out there and see what's going on," Stockton said in a telephone interview.
The University of California has run Los Alamos since the lab was created as the headquarters of the Manhattan Project — the secret effort to create the first atomic bomb — in 1943.
The contract is up for bids after management failures in recent years, including the firing of two investigators who raised allegations of mismanagement, abuse of lab purchasing and financial malfeasance.
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