The Department of Energy should take steps to correct some errors in its classification of national security information – which includes intelligence activities or programs meant to safeguard nuclear materials or facilities – according to a newly released DOE Office of Inspector General report.
The IG found none of the 232 national security documents it reviewed contained critical under-classification errors, while 17 had major over-classification errors and 153 had marking errors.
However, “none of the errors we observed would likely result in the inappropriate release of classified information,” the IG said. The report attributed these classification issues largely to “a lack of attention to detail by some derivative classifiers, ineffective reinforcement of requirements by management, and infrequent classification of documents and email by some derivative classifiers.”
The report also found DOE’s Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence had conducted only 33 percent of the required annual classification decision reviews and 67 percent of the required biennial classification program self-assessments. An official from this DOE office told the IG it did not conduct the required reviews due to “resource constraints and the decision to divert some resources to correcting issues discovered during previous classification program reviews,” the report said.
The IG recommended required classification program reviews be completed and that requirements for marking documents be reiterated at all National Nuclear Security Administration and DOE sites.
In the report, NNSA and DOE’s Offices of Intelligence and Counterintelligence and Environment, Health, Safety and Security said they agreed with the IG’s recommendations and were addressing the issues.
The National Nuclear Security Administration’s Office of Program Integration is modifying its contract with TechSource Inc. to increase the funding ceiling for technical support services, according to a notice posted this week.
The NNSA is modifying a task order awarded under a blanket purchase agreement in May 2013 to increase the ceiling price of $5.8 million by $570,077.52. TechSource will continue its existing scope of work until the end of its period of performance on March 31.
The contractor will provide support in the form of business case activities for the NNSA office that coordinates annual updates to defense program plans, conducts analyses of issues impacting defense program missions, and prepares policy guidance, the notice said.
It said TechSource’s ongoing activities include helping improve financial execution tracking for NNSA’s defense programs; B-61 technology maturation support; and guidance with cost estimating and analyses of alternatives for NNSA programs.
The NNSA office also seeks short-term support for the W88 ALT 370 assessment and development program, the notice said, including a “self-assessment matrix to [gauge] deltas in staff between job requirements and current knowledge/experience, and closing identified deltas by developing personalized training programs for W88 ALT 370 staff.” The W88 alteration 370 is an NNSA life-extension program that features component upgrades to the W88 submarine-launched ballistic missile warhead.
From the Wires
From the BBC: An unarmed Trident D5 II ballistic missile reportedly went off-course following a June 2016 test launch from a British submarine. The Trident is carried by both British and U.S. ballistic missile submarines.
From The New York Times: The incident has become a political hot potato in the United Kingdom.
From The Hill: President Donald Trump tells ABC News that being given the nuclear codes on Inauguration Day was “a sobering moment.”
From Reuters: Trump wants more submarines, but for less money.
From Inside Defense (subscription required): U.S. Air Force and Navy find it would not be “feasible or practical” to establish full commonality for the next-generation nuclear-tipped ICBM and submarine-launched ballistic missile.
From the United Nations: New U.N. Secretary General António Guterres affirms commitment to a world without nuclear weapons, in video message to the first 2017 session of the Conference on Disarmament.
