Alissa Tabirian
NS&D Monitor
9/25/2015
The Department of Energy (DOE) has called on the Los Alamos National Laboratory’s (LANL) managing contractor to give greater attention to ensuring the proper execution of corrective actions following misclassification incidents revealed earlier this year, according to an Office of Enforcement letter released this week.
The Sept. 18 letter to Los Alamos National Security (LANS) validates concerns cited in a Feb. 11 DOE Inspector General’s Office (IG) report that identified three security incidents in which information was misclassified – cleared for public release despite containing classified information – due to a lack of timely guidance from LANL’s classification office. It also notes another incident in which LANS identified classified information as Designated Unclassified Subject Area (DUSA), “which could permit the public release of information without a derivative classification review.” The IG further found that in two instances, potential unauthorized disclosures of sensitive information were not reported to a LANL security incident team in a timely manner.
The latest letter notes that LANS’ set of corrective actions to address these security deficiencies as of late May “appears adequate” but that “DOE finds that LANS senior management attention is needed to ensure that corrective actions are completed, sustained, and effective to prevent recurrence.”
The Office of Enforcement confirmed via a site visit the IG’s findings of “shortcomings in the DUSA review process that could potentially lead to instances of unauthorized disclosure if not appropriately addressed.” It also noted that LANL’s classification office “lacks formal, documented processes for the timely distribution of classification and interpretive guidance.” Its letter says DOE “will continue to monitor LANS’ efforts to improve security performance.” LANS did not offer comments on the matter by press time.
