There is no evidence that classified information was disclosed during an open, unclassified National Nuclear Security Administration at Department of Energy Headquarters’ Forrestal Building in September of last year, an agency watchdog report found.
However, the suspected incident was not properly reported, according to a DOE Inspector General (IG) report published Nov. 2.
In September 2022, the IG received an allegation that classified information was disclosed during a routine, unclassified NNSA meeting at the Department Headquarters’ Forrestal Building in Washington, D.C.
The meeting was a mix of in-person, video conference, and telephone participants, some of whom did not have a need to know the classified information discussed, the IG said.
The possible disclosure to people not cleared for such information was reported to DOE’s Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence which conducted a formal review of the matter, the report said.
But the report from that investigation was initially thought to have been “subsequently ‘buried’ by senior management,” the IG said.
“We did not substantiate the allegation that classified information was disclosed during an open NNSA unclassified, mixed-media teleconference meeting … but we did substantiate the allegation that the suspected incident was not properly reported,” the IG report said. “A [Intelligence and Counterintelligence] Headquarters Security Officer conducted an inquiry review and produced a report in August 2022 that concluded classified information was not disclosed during this meeting, and that it was a non-incident.”
The IG also found that senior DOE intelligence office management did not bury the report as suggested. Instead, the officer who conducted the initial investigation did not send it up the ranks as dictated by department protocol.
