--Gussie
* Update, 11:24pm: As noted by a comment below, there is a Bechtel connection to this security issue: the suspect worked as a low-level contractor for Bechtel Jacobs Co. at the East Tennessee Technology Park, a cleanup site that once housed the government’s gaseous diffusion plant used to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons.
______________________________________________________
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19850505/
National lab worker accused of stealing secrets
Employee allegedly stole classified nuclear information, tried to sell it
WASHINGTON - Federal prosecutors on Thursday accused a low-level worker at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory — birthplace of the nuclear bomb — with stealing highly classified information about how to make enriched uranium, a key ingredient in nuclear weapons.
He was allegedly caught trying to sell it to someone he thought was representing another country, someone who turned out to be an undercover FBI agent. Federal officials will not say which country the agent was pretending to represent.
WNBC’s Jonathan Dienst reported the suspect was arrested earlier on Thursday. An official announcement about the sting was expected later in the day, he said.
Sources reportedly said money, and not ideology, was the motive for the theft.
The alleged security breach was discovered before it could do any damage. But the incident also exposes another serious security breach at the national laboratories.
Last fall, for example, a large cache of classified documents from Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico was discovered when police, looking for drugs, conducted a search of a mobile home.
Click for related content |
The Oak Ridge National lab, located in eastern Tennessee, near Knoxville, was established in 1943.
The lab was part of the government’s secret Manhattan Project, which was designed to build the first atomic bomb. It is the Energy Department’s largest science and energy laboratory.
The suspect is expected to be arraigned in federal court in Knoxville on Thursday.
"Sources said it is unclear how a low-level contract worker was able to obtain some of the nation's highly guarded nuclear documents."
ReplyDeleteWell, duh! Obviously it was because of those arrogant scientists at LANL who can't be trusted to safeguard the nation's most important secrets.
LANL hasn't had an actual spy incident since the 1940's. This is serious business. Will Congressman Dingell and Stupak now be prepared to launch "Shut-it-Down" Congressional investigations for ORNL over this? I doubt it. This story was deeply buried in the news. It will quickly die out. Now, if it had happened at LANL...
ReplyDeleteWatch for ill-informed Congressmen to place this story at LANL during our next Congressional grilling. It doesn't matter where it happened. To them it all must have happened here.
ReplyDeleteAt the last Congressional hearing, one Congressman placed the Shawn Carpenter story at LANL during his outbursts of anger. It doens't matter where it happened, they'll dump it on us. We can never win. You can count on that.
More polygraph tests for everyone, including low level contractors. That will be the result demanded by Congress.
ReplyDeleteIf only ORNL had glued all their USB ports shut with epoxy, this would surely never have happened.
ReplyDeleteThere's a Bechtel connection to this story! Wouldn't you know it...
ReplyDeletewww.knoxnews.com
/news/2007/jul/19/nuke-secrets-stolen-ornl/
Contract employee charged with stealing nuclear secrets - AP News
He worked at former K-25 uranium-enrichment site
LARA JAKES JORDAN, Associated Press
WASHINGTON — A contract employee at a nuclear material cleanup site in Tennessee was charged today for allegedly stealing classified data about enriching uranium to sell to foreign governments, law enforcement officials said.
The man, who was not immediately identified, instead sold the sensitive material to undercover FBI agents, said two officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because the arrest had not yet been publicly announced.
..He worked as a low-level contractor for Bechtel Jacobs Co. at the East Tennessee Technology Park, a cleanup site that once housed the government’s gaseous diffusion plant used to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons.
"Sources reportedly said money, and not ideology, was the motive for the theft." (MSNBC)
ReplyDeleteThese days, it's always for money, and never ideology. It's a sad commentary on modern US life. We have no real ideals left anymore. We just want the cash. And some people will do just about anything to get that cash.
We have a name for the spy, and it's not Wen Ho Lee. I wonder if ORNL will be hit with a multi-million dollar fine over this incident? And it appears a trend is forming. As per the article below, both this incident and the recent LANL Meth Trailer incident involved low level contract employees, probably with little loyalty to the facilities at which they worked. There is a moral to these stories. If you want loyal employees then pay them well, give them secure jobs with good benefits, and keep the morale high. Instead, DOE/NNSA/LANS/LLNS are headed in exactly the opposite direction.
ReplyDelete------
news.yahoo.com
/s/ap/20070719/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/
nuclear_theft
Classified material stolen from nuke lab - AP News
WASHINGTON - A contract employee at a nuclear material cleanup site in Tennessee was charged Thursday with allegedly stealing classified data about enriching uranium to sell to foreign governments, law enforcement officials said.
...The man, identified as Roy Lynn Oakley, 67, of Roane County, Tenn., instead sold the sensitive material to undercover FBI agents, said two officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because the arrest had not yet been publicly announced.
None of the data ever made it out of the country, or was transmitted to criminal or terror groups, one official said.
...Oak Ridge is currently the U.S. Department of Energy's largest science and energy laboratory. Between 1942 and 1945, it was part of the top-secret bomb-building Manhattan Project, which turned this rural countryside about 20 miles west of Knoxville into a "secret city" of 75,000 people.
.."We're dealing with an issue of obvious sensitivity. I can't discuss it," said Billy Stair, a spokesman for the Oak Ridge lab. He said there would be a statement by the U.S. Attorney's office later Thursday.
...The indictment marks the second leak of classified information from sensitive Energy Department sites in the last year.
In October, police conducting a drug raid in northern New Mexico stumbled onto more than 1,000 pages of secret documents and several computer storage devices containing classified information that had been taken from the Los Alamos National Laboratory by a contract employee assigned to archive nuclear weapons data.
Because of that security breakdown, the Energy Department this week proposed $3.3 million in fines against the University of California, which formerly managed the Los Alamos lab, and a consortium of companies that took over the management contract a year ago.
What a surprise about the Bechtel connection! I mean, they are so well thought of elsewhere else they have contracts in the DOE complex, like Hanford, for example. And we all know about the wonderful job they are doing at LANL. Yes, I know LANS, LLC. Yes, we all know that LANS, LLC is dominated by its Bechtel membership.
ReplyDeleteBirthplace of the nuclear weapon???
ReplyDeleteSend in Nanos, he'll be able to work his magic there in no time.
ReplyDeleteThe theft was at ETTP (East Tennessee Technology Park) which is the former gaseous diffusion plant. It is a remediation-cleanup site, and not under the authority of ORNL or Y12 (or for that matter, NNSA). Bechtel Jacobs is the main contractor at ETTP. Thanks to DOE splitting the contracts in Oak Ridge many years ago, there is no connection to ORNL or Y12 (the weapons plant), each of which have separate main contractors. The knoxnews.com source (the local Knoxville newspaper) got the story about right, and Fox News tonight (7/19) was pretty accurate, too. Many other news sources had major innaccuracies.
ReplyDeleteI just finished listening to the msnbc.com update on the story. Numerous references to LANL, Wen Ho Lee, and the CREM de Meth incident, of course. It seems like this guy, a Bechtel employee, was just an escort. He escorted uncleared people into buildings where a clearance was required for access. It sounds like he and Jessica Q. should get together to discuss mutual interests.
ReplyDeleteThe latest news I read was this guy was a low level maintenance person responsible for disposing of garbage left over for years at the lab. My gut feelings are he was just unknowingly trying to make a buck selling unwanted and disguarded items. And from previously done investigations by the FBI, Wen Ho Lee (now a millionaire because of the botched job and faulty investigation). This one will go the same way. The FBI lost its best and brightest years ago. Now all they get are sweet polygraph purebreds who have no ability to think outside the box. And somehow this is going to ding us here at LANL, I am sure. Security will be going on another witchhunt, and saying I told you so.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110010360
ReplyDeleteFor your information, the URL above refers to an opinion piece in today's Wall Street Journal.
It seems that the UN has been shipping dual use, export controlled instruments to North Korea in violation of U.S. law.
LANL folks are pikers in this game.