Nuclear-Bomb Materials Stockpiled in Suburb Were Not Adequately Protected Against Terrorists, Says Government Report

Aerial view of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (Photo: U.S. Government.)

By Matt Cover

(CNSNews.com) – The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory–which stores weapons-grade uranium and plutonium in the midst of the heavily populated San Francisco Bay Area–was discovered last year to have “significant weaknesses” in its security, “particularly in [its] protective force’s ability to assure the protection of weapons-grade (special) nuclear material,” according to a report by the Government Accountability Office.

In April 2008, the Department of Energy inspected the lab and found “numerous and wide-ranging security deficiencies,” said GAO.

“The Department of Energy (DOE) has long recognized that a successful
terrorist attack on a site containing nuclear weapons or the fissile material
used in nuclear weapons—called special nuclear material—could have
devastating consequences for the site and its surrounding communities,” GAO said in its report.

“Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), located in Livermore,
California, is one of three national laboratories responsible for designing,
developing, and maintaining a safe, secure, and reliable nuclear weapons
deterrent,” the report explained. ”For these and other missions, LLNL stores and uses special nuclear material. Special nuclear material—including plutonium and highly enriched uranium—is considered to be Category I when it is weapons-grade and in specified forms and quantities. The risks associated with Category I special nuclear material vary but include theft, and the potential for sabotage in the form of radiological dispersal, also known as a ‘dirty bomb.’”

The report said that the Department of Energy inspection ”gave the laboratory the lowest possible rating in two security areas: protective force performance and classified matter protection and control.”

The DOE found that the laboratory’s security forces were not adequately prepared to defend the nuclear stockpile from an attack or attempted armed theft.

The DOE’s Office of Independent Oversight inspected the facility to “evaluate the ability of LLNL’s [Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory] protective security force to successfully defend the Superblock facility against a mock terrorist group.”

“As a result of this inspection, LLNL earned the lowest possible rating–’Significant Weakness’–in two of seven security performance areas, including protective force,” the report reads.

The lab also failed a test of how well it could protect sensitive nuclear secrets, according to the GAO, because the lab failed to follow “basic” security protocols.

“LLNL failed to comply with basic security requirements, such as the frequency of changes to safe combinations,” the report says.

The report also said that the laboratory’s own internal security checks–conducted by its on-site security office–had given the laboratory a 100 percent satisfactory rating just six months before DOE’s internal inspectors found failing security conditions.

“LSO’s (Livermore Site Office) September 2007 annual security survey, completed only six months before (DOE’s) inspection, resulted in 100-percent satisfactory ratings,” the report says.

The site’s security is run by a contracting firm and overseen by the federal government, through the LSO. Both the contractor and the government failed, according to the GAO source.

In reference to the GAO’s findings, John Belluardo, public affairs director at Lawrence Livermore, told CNSNews.com in an e-mail: “The Laboratory has implemented corrective action plans for all of the findings resulting from the 2008 inspection. Specifically, the Laboratory initiated an aggressive recovery plan to improve the effectiveness of its protection strategy.

“Physical communications and system security upgrades were implemented, upgraded weapon systems were deployed, and a multitude of force-on-force exercises were conducted that demonstrated significant improvements in protective force response.”

Source: CNS News

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