This article will appear in the June 7 edition of Insights Magazine.

I'm beginning to feel ill...

R.

Published in Washington, D.C.. . . . Vol. 15, No. 21 -- June 7, 1999 . . . . www.insightmag.com

Nuclear Security

------------------------------------------------------------------------ By James P. Lucier ------------------------------------------------------------------------

An Insight investigation finds shocking new and ongoing espionage at DOE labs. Money alone won't fix the lapses; FBI probes find new suspects, new worries.

A>fter his NBC Meet the Press appearance on May 9, Energy Secretary Bill Richardson rushed back to the Department of Energy, or DOE, and announced a program of fundamental changes to the department's security policies. He had been publicly humiliated when host Tim Russert put him in the crosshairs of laser-guided questioning and forced him to admit that, contrary to President Clinton's claims, hugely important nuclear secrets indeed had been stolen during the Clinton administration, as well as earlier. As late as March 16, Richardson still had been testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee that "in the mid-1980s, during the Reagan-Bush administration, China may have obtained strategic nuclear-weapons information." . . . . Since then it has been revealed that the allegations against Wen Ho Lee, a scientist working at Los Alamos National Laboratories, involved not just information on the design of the W-88 miniature nuclear warhead for intercontinental ballistic missiles but also the national laboratories' "source code" containing all the data (repeat: all the data) gathered by the United States from four decades of nuclear testing. Despite the fact that suspicions about Lee had been raised as early as 1995, he was not barred from access to classified data until he was fired on March 8, just a week before Richardson's testimony. In fact, Capitol Hill sources say, out of the hundreds of requests made by the FBI for wiretaps on investigative targets, the request to tap Lee's phone was the only one refused by Attorney General Janet Reno. "Such inquiries into security issues take time to unfold," Richardson told the Armed Services panel. . . . . But Richardson, who took over from former secretary Federico Peqa last August, stalled implementation of security reforms that had been requested by security officials in annual reports to the secretary in 1995, 1996 and 1997, and called for in a comprehensive study by the Nuclear Command and Control Staff Report on Oversight in the DOE in 1998. Even the General Accounting Office had issued 31 major reports critical of DOE security at the labs. . . . . The department is a huge conglomerate with an $18 billion budget, some 36 divisions, 56 field operations and 30 of the prestigious laboratories. It does everything from processing uranium, tritium and other radioactive materials to manufacturing, stockpiling and testing nuclear weapons. As such it is at the very heart of U.S. national security. . . . . An ongoing investigation by Insight of security problems at DOE suggests that Richardson's "reorganization" is just a fig leaf of bureaucratic maneuvering offering too little, too late. But a DOE spokesman, Matthew Dono-ghue, tells Insight that "the secretary has been making reforms since he walked into the building in September. This is a work in progress." . . . . Sources within the department say that national-security issues lost priority when President Clinton's first energy secretary, Hazel O'Leary, took office, and under Peqa they became so hollow that the department does not have the manpower, the resources or the training to restore security capabilities of its own. They say that DOE consistently has failed to implement security measures mandated in June 1995 by Presidential Decision Memorandum 39 on counterterrorism, and in PDD 61, a directive issued in February 1998 and directed almost entirely at national-security problems in DOE. . . . . Moreover, it now can be revealed for the first time that recommendations made and ignored since 1995 have included complete top-down and bottom-up security upgrades to protect DOE's highly classified operations from being penetrated by foreign or domestic spies as well as preventing thefts of computer codes and hardware such as nuclear materials. Hill sources tell Insight that investigations by both the CIA and the FBI are ongoing and reach to the highest level of the department. As a result, neither agency is sharing findings with the National Security Council. . . . . An Insight investigation has found that it will take years of training and millions of dollars to overcome security problems at the national laboratories and other top-secret facilities around the country. Among the previously unknown concerns:

The classified and unclassified computer systems share a common "backbone" and similar protocols, a design which not only simplifies transfer of data from one side to the other, but results in unintended migration of data. For example, both systems automatically are backed up to a common server which readily could be accessed by knowledgeable computer experts. The computers lack so-called impregnable "firewalls" and password protection, which are the basic level of security installed by private companies and financial institutions to protect sensitive and proprietary data. Many firewalls that do exist have "back doors" for the convenience of technicians servicing the system. But others can get in these back doors. DOE insiders tell Insight that there have been more than 300 unauthorized accesses to the sensitive but unclassified areas of the computer.The problem of access could be exacerbated by a program announced by the FBI in March to open a number of sensitive DOE databases to law-enforcement officials at all levels. "There's no reason to have the world dial into these databases," says a security-conscious DOE employee.The national laboratories have a culture which disdains fundamental security procedures. They have refused to allow uninvited security inspections from DOE's Washington headquarters. There have been numerous cases of scientists taking classified printouts home to study or using home computers which are not protected at all. The labs have been all but disinterested in inquiring why some employees have used open telephone lines to their homeland countries all night, a situation that suggests data transmission.

. . . . The problems during the Reagan-Bush administrations, DOE security analysts say, stemmed from a decades-old culture of academic elitism that has prevailed in the prestigious research labs, such as Los Alamos and the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, both managed by the University of California. Some research scientists have tended to regard the sharing of science with all humanity as a nobler goal than protecting national security, and others are quite open about their concern that the United States has become the lone superpower. These notions had to be kept in check by strict security enforcement. . . . . But with the appointment of O'Leary by Clinton in 1993, the whole idea of security became distasteful. One of her first steps was to decree that the DOE Protective Service no longer should carry pistols at the Washington headquarters office. Security officers quietly saw to it that the pistols were put in storage and not disposed of as O'Leary had requested; but even the sidearms one might expect on the hips of meter maids have not returned. O'Leary also initiated a wholesale declassification of older materials pertaining to nuclear programs that did not allow time to evaluate the released data for sensitivity -- a program that Richardson just called to a halt. . . . . In fact, the O'Leary regime seemed filled with individuals who disdained the very idea of nuclear security. A DOE employee who sat in on many high-level meetings says: "I heard [an O'Leary appointee] say, 'We need intellectual freedom to communicate.' But you can communicate and still use passwords. I heard a favored environmental activist say, 'We ought to just give it all to everybody.'" . . . . As a result of this attitude, the number of protective forces which also guard nuclear materials at sites scattered around the country and stood at 5,640 in 1992 now has declined to 3,500 -- even though the assets they must guard have increased 30 percent. The main reason for this decline is that the Clinton administration cut the budget for the Protective Force by 40 percent. . . . . By 1996, several facilities no longer were capable of recovering a nuclear asset or facility if lost to an adversary, such as a terrorist or issue-advocacy group. Others, for budgetary reasons and lack of personnel, simply stopped training Protective Force officers in this task. Although DOE's inside reports state that training has improved and that training exercises show readiness, the training scenarios simply were recast. Rather than fix the problem, DOE rigged the tests. . . . . "If bad guys get their hands onto a nuclear weapon or nuclear material, we are required to recover it," a DOE source says. "But we couldn't do it because we no longer have the resources, manpower or training. It would take at least two years of training to get back up to mission capability even if they start now." . . . . Unreleased FBI reports shared with Insight say that militia-style groups have been recruiting members among nuclear-facility employees, fulfilling one of the scenarios in the notorious Turner Diaries, a fictional account of a right-wing terrorist group that takes over a nuclear site. One hardly has to look far to find terrorist groups of every known persuasion who might regard seizure of a U.S. nuclear facility as a compelling prospect. Almost as alarming, according to DOE sources, the Protective Forces have done no training exercises to prepare for the possibility of intrusion in the event of a Y2K crisis. Although DOE computers supposedly are Y2K compliant, doubts have been raised about the viability of the nation's electric power grid, and the impact of an electrical shutdown on nuclear materials that constantly must be kept cooled. Similarly, there has been no site training for an attack by chemical or biological agents. "The [DOE] Office of Emergency Management has never done an exercise starting with a terrorist event," another DOE employee tells Insight. As a consequence, many DOE sites are relying on local law-enforcement officials who know little or nothing about dealing with terrorist organizations or handling radioactive materials. . . . . The situation at DOE had deteriorated so badly that other federal agencies concerned with national security complained and began to pressure the White House to do something about it. Finally, Rick Bloodsworth was detailed from the CIA to draft a Presidential Decision Directive concerned solely with DOE's security problems -- the aforementioned PDD 61. "Find me another PDD directed at just one agency!" a DOE source says. "As long as we have known about Chinese activities, the administration has tried to bury it." . . . . PDD 61 set up the DOE Office of Counterintelligence, and an old FBI operative, Edward J. Curran, was brought in to run it. Peqa reluctantly accepted the new arrangement but was "disturbed because Curran had his power base in the FBI." As a result the counterintelligence chief has had an uphill battle. . . . . In the face of disaster, say Energy sources, Richardson's reorganization is a bureaucratic reshuffle that suddenly sees the need for $50 million in additional funds over the next two years. It simply ignores that technology is no barrier when there is a complete breakdown of security amid sensitive operations. The real computer problems, according to a computer expert familiar with the situation at DOE, are the failure to conduct classification reviews before placing information onto an unclassified processing system; the intentional creation of unclassified data from classified materials to ease processing; and the use of personal computers at home to process classified information. . . . . "It wasn't so much espionage that the Chinese were conducting," Insight was told -- "they were just picking the low-hanging fruit."

-- Roland (nottelling@nowhere.com), May 17, 1999

Answers

Please note...this does not mean there is a conspiracy. All he had to do was pick people with like minds, and, voila, the situations develop.

c

-- chuck, a Night Driver (rienzoo@en.com), May 17, 1999.

It's over folks. Clinton has signed our deathwarrents. He's sold us out in order to achive his dreams(and our nightmares) of a 1 world NWO government. Evil is now ruling us, our guns are being taken away, our rights our disapating, and the socialists(they call themselves liberals, secular humanists, new agers and all the others) are destroying us, and we don't care because the dow is up, sex doesn't matter, honor is meaningless, and truth are morals are only what people want them to be. The system is God, Truth is lies, Love is Hate, Peace is War, and Freedom is slavery, according to most sheeple. They love Big Brother, It's "doubleplusgood" when he lies, and the truth, and The American Way are "doubleplusungood". We have chosen to follow the path of EVIL, by not impeaching Klintoon when we had our chance. , WWIII, terrorism and the worst riots from y2k, and all the other problems to come, could have been avoided, but the people were too happy to care. We will pay for ourr choises. "Our actions have consiquences, and we alone are responcible for them.

-- Crono (Crono@timesend.com), May 17, 1999.

"Please note...this does not mean there is a conspiracy. All he had to do was pick people with like minds, and, voila, the situations develop."

Excellent point. I feel that anytime you have a sufficient number of like-minded people, a so-called "conspiracy" naturally develops. Very similar to culture, IMHO.

-- Anonymous99 (Anonymous99@Anonymous99.xxx), May 17, 1999.

And this from WorldNetDaily:

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/bluesky_nyquist/19990517_xc jny_is_militar.shtml

This article makes a serious case that China and Russia are gearing up for all-out war against the West. At this point even a Milne-level Y2K event is beginning to look like a blip in comparison. Who cares if the trains don't run, I'll be happy if our cities don't get turned to smoking craters.

-- Shimrod (shimrod@lycosmail.com), May 17, 1999.

It's not a "conspiracy." It's socialist/communist infiltration.

Right, it just "happens" that China now controls the Panama Canal, that they possess ALL our nuclear test data for the last decade. It just "happens" that Sandy Berger (in charge of handling imperial, unconstitutional legislation-by-Executive Order) was a lawyer for the Communist Chinese. It just "happens" that Clinton has gotten us into a senseless, brutal conflict in Serbia that is strengthening a Russo-Chinese alliance and justifying it's goal to limit American influence and power, and will end up demoralizing and discrediting the American people. It just "happens" that conditions are now ripe for North Korea to invade, now that there is no carrier in the Pacific; those million North Koreans massing at the DMZ are just on a little picnic. Not to worry.

No, no conspiracy here...

You don't want to believe there's a concerted socialist/globalist effort. Neither do I. Unfortunately, there are facts which force me to pay attention, take up the burden of citizenship in this as yet free country, and apply myself to the problem.

Everyone should listen to this interview with Jack Metcalf and then author James L. Hirsen, PhD, about how we are being prepared, politically, economically and culturally for dictatorship:

http://www.broadcast.com/shows/endoftheline/99archives.stm

It's the May 11th show.

Do you know that since 1933 we have been in a state of perpetual "national emergency" which allows the President to rule by "Executive Order?" We are now waging total war with Serbia, and Congress has refused to declare war, yet pays tribute to the Emperor so he can trample the Congressional authority mandated by the Constitution. WE ARE LIVING IN THE INCIPIENT STAGES OF DICTATORSHIP. NOW! Listen to Hirsen and read his books if you want to know how and why this is happening.

If you don't want to believe it, and don't want to know, fine. Get ready to be a slave, in a globalist state where "nations (and their Constitutions) don't matter anymore." ]

Here's an example of how the press is almost totally controlled, and how you're being lied to continually in this new American Empire. Think about the following information. Decide how you feel about it, and what it means for you. Decide whether there is a "conspiracy" or if all this is proceeding with utter randomness while those who control our banks, our congress and our media shrug and wring their hands:

The International Strategic Studies Association is out of Alexandria, Virginia. The non-governmental organization for senior national security officials from 165 countries issued a news release May 4 that has been ignored by the mainstream American media.

According to ISSA (http://www.strategicstudies.org/issa.htm), NATO and US forces have "suffered significant loss of life" among ground troops.

ISSA's monthly journal "Strategic Policy" reports that as of April 20, "as many as 50 NATO ground troops - officially not acknowledged even to be in the conflict." It also reports NATO may have lost as many as 38 fixed-wing aircraft and six helicopters.

The recently released POWs may not have been the only prisoners. ISSA reports an African-American air force major is being held after his F-15 Eagle fighter was shot down. "At least one German pilot (some sources say two men, implying perhaps a Luftwaffe crew from a Tornado) has been captured," the report also says.

ISSA adds it has information a female US pilot has been killed.

In addition, ISSA reports 12 American and eight British special forces were killed in an ambush south of Pristina within days of the start of the bombing campaign. "At least 30 bodies of US servicemen have been processed through Athens, after being transported from the combat zone," according to the report.

"At least two of the helicopters downed by the Yugoslavs were carrying troops, and in these two a total of 50 men were believed to have been killed, most of them (but not all) of US origin."

ISSA organized a fact-finding mission to Yugoslavia on April 18 - 21. On the team was Congressman Jim Saxton (R-NJ), a life member of the organization and Chairman of the House Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare.

The team determined as many as one-third of the refugees out of Kosovo "appear, in fact, to be fleeing further into Serbia," to avoid the KLA. These refugees of various ethnicities are joining the nearly one million refugees displaced since 1992 from Bosnian and Croatian Serb areas and Croatians and Muslims from what is now Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia.

Team members report seeing extensive destruction by NATO of civilian targets, which has resulted in the loss of income for

nearly 20 percent of the entire Yugoslavian population. NATO says relatives of President Slobodan Milosevic owned some civilian targets. The ISSA team learned, however, that "the vast majority of these factories were either State-owned, privately owned by non-Milosevic family members or, for the greater part, owned jointly by the State and by the workforces of the various factories. As a result, this has directly contributed to an attack on the average Yugoslav family."

"Insight Magazine" (www.insightmag.com) reports in its upcoming issue that as many as 15,000 US troops will be killed in a ground war. That figure came from a CIA report to the House Armed Services Committee on the eve of last month's NATO summit. The CIA estimate is based on a 10-percent casualty rate.

The Washington Times, on May 4, reported that KLA troops are training with terrorists. According to the report, some members of the KLA, which is financing the war through the sale of heroin, were trained in camps run by Osama bin Laden who is wanted for the 1998 bombing of two US embassies that resulted in the deaths of 224 persons, including 12 Americans.

Last year, State Department officials called the KLA a terrorist organization and charged it was using terrorist tactics against Serbian and ethnic Albanian citizens, according to the paper. And France's Geopolitical Observatory of Drugs said the KLA helped transport $2 billion in drugs a year into Western Europe.

"The World loveth and believeth a lie."

Dano

-- Dano (bookem@blacksand.srf), May 17, 1999.

eeeeeiks, boy can you guys every scare people. GOD help us!!! y2kaok justthinkin

-- justthinkin com (y2kaok@justthinkin.com), May 17, 1999.

God helps those who help themselves. So help yourself to some non-governmentally-approved knowledge. And you're not alone. A lot of folks are aware of this situation and are responding accordingly.

Dano

-- Dano (bookem@blacksand.srf), May 17, 1999.