NEW MEXICO QUESTIONS OVER LOS ALAMOS EMPLOYEE COMPUTER THEFT CASE Barton wants answers from NNSA about lab computers | AP Texas News | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle:

Barton wants answers from NNSA about lab computers
By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN Associated Press Writer © 2009 The Associated Press
March 27, 2009, 4:20PM

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The ranking members of two congressional committees sent a letter Friday to the National Nuclear Security Administration, demanding answers about the theft of three computers from the home a Los Alamos National Laboratory employee.

U.S. Reps. Joe Barton, R-Texas, who sits on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Greg Walden, R-Ore., ranking member of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, said the incident at Los Alamos raises questions about whether the northern New Mexico nuclear weapons lab has fixed gaps in its cyber security monitoring and oversight procedures.

Barton and Walden also mentioned the 67 missing computers that were outlined in an NNSA memo dated Feb. 3. Thirteen of the computers were lost or stolen in the past year, including the three that were stolen from the lab employee's home in January.

"That 67 missing laptops were treated only as lost property, and not as a potential security threat, raises ongoing questions about the security culture at LANL," the letter stated. "We are concerned that LANL does not truly know what information was on this equipment or that NNSA security personnel have the ability to find out anymore."

Officials had said when the memo was released in February by the watchdog group Project on Government Oversight that no classified information had been lost.

Messages seeking comment were left Friday with the NNSA and a lab spokesman.

Barton and Walden's letter, addressed to NNSA head Thomas D'Agostino, asks for details about whether lost property protocols were followed by lab management, what measures have been taken to correct deficiencies and how many people are dedicated to monitoring cyber security at the lab.

They also want to know why a lab employee would have three government computers at his home and how many employees have more than one government computer at home.

Barton and Walden said they want the information within one month.

"Given the history with LANL's security oversight and attention this committee (Energy and Commerce) has focused in this area, we expected a more appropriate level of security protocols would have been in place and followed appropriately," the letter states.

The theft of the three computers in January did trigger an inventory by the lab to account for every computer and a review of the lab's policies regarding home use of government computers.

Kevin Roark, a lab spokesman, acknowledged in February that only one of the three computers stolen from the employee's home was authorized for home use, which he said raised concerns "as to whether we were fully complying with our own policies for offsite computer usage."

Roark has said computers with classified information are "kept completely separate from unclassified computing."

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