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Nuclear weapons lab loses 67 computers

Elinor Mills CNET News

Published: 16 Feb 2009 17:53 GMT

US officials are investigating the disappearance of 67 computers from the Los Alamos nuclear weapons lab in New Mexico, according to a not-for-profit group that exposes government misconduct.

Of the missing computers, 13 were lost or stolen in the past year, including three taken from a scientist's home last month. A BlackBerry belonging to another worker was lost in a "sensitive foreign country", according to an internal Los Alamos Lab email posted online by the Project On Government Oversight.

The group also posted a letter from the Energy Department's National Nuclear Security Administration rebuking the Los Alamos lab for treating the situation as a property-management issue and not as a cybersecurity risk.

The "magnitude of exposure and risk to the laboratory is at best unclear as little data on these losses has been collected or pursued given their treatment as property management issues", the DOE memo said.

The incidents are "garnering a great deal of attention with senior management as well as NNSA [National Nuclear Security Administration] representatives," the Los Alamos Lab email said.

The Associated Press reported this week that a Los Alamos spokesman said the computers may have contained names and addresses but did not have any classified information on them.

Credit: Nearly 70 computers missing from Los Alamos nuclear lab from CNET News