March 17, 2014

DOE IG RAISES QUESTIONS ABOUT PROPERTY, INFO SECURITY AT LOS ALAMOS FIRE DEPT.

By ExchangeMonitor

The Los Alamos County Fire Department, which provides fire department services to Los Alamos National Laboratory under a 2008 Cooperative Agreement, could not account for dozens of pieces of federal property, did not apply federal guidelines to keep track of its property, and may have failed to protect sensitive information, according to a Department of Energy Inspector General report released yesterday. The report raises questions about the ability of the fire department, and NNSA’s Los Alamos Site Office, to safeguard both property and information. The IG investigation revealed that in 2010, nine computers, four cameras, a video projector and 40 radios—about 10 percent of 566 items inventoried—were missing and hadn’t been reported as lost or stolen, violating regulations.

Materials accountability processes were often ignored by officials, according to the IG, and the Los Alamos Site Office did not require the fire department to strengthen its protection of “Sensitive Unclassified Information” that was considered “official use only” or “unclassified controlled nuclear information” and hadn’t incorporated cyber security provisions into the Cooperative Agreement. While the IG found no evidence that sensitive material had been compromised, it said the issues “created an environment where Sensitive Unclassified Information provided to the County could potentially be subject to loss or compromise.”

Comments are closed.