Data storage items lost at Los Alamos

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. — Two data storage devices containing classified information are missing from Los Alamos National Laboratory, officials said.

Lab spokesman Kevin Roark refused to say Friday if the information could jeopardize national security.

He said the “Classified Removable Electronic Media” were discovered missing from the Weapons Physics Directorate during an inventory check Wednesday.

He refused to specify exactly what was missing, but said the items could be products such as CDs or floppy disks.

A search was under way, 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. Classified electronic media was also 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. 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.”

U.S. Rep. Tom Udall said he was incensed by the latest security failure at the northern New Mexico lab.

“That this is occurring in the current atmosphere of heightened security awareness is intolerable,” Udall said.

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.