[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 34 (Wednesday, March 14, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E364]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page E364]]
  SECURITY AT THE NATIONAL LABORATORIES: A PROBLEM DEMANDING A REMEDY

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                           HON. DOUG BEREUTER

                              of nebraska

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 14, 2001

  Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Speaker, this Member rises to call attention to the 
continuing threat to U.S. national security posed by lax security 
standards at our national weapons laboratories. As we have learned in 
recent years, lax security at our Department of Energy national weapons 
laboratories has resulted in the loss of some of this nation's most 
important secrets. This Member had the honor to serve on the select 
committee tasked with investigating the loss of highly sensitive, 
classified program technology to the People's Republic of China (the 
Cox Committee), and can testify that security at our national weapons 
laboratories had been dangerously compromised. Other investigations 
have come to similar conclusions.
  In 1999, a Presidential Commission led by former Senator Warren 
Rudman pointed to a dysfunctional culture that rebelled at the notion 
of addressing security requirements at the labs. In recent days, yet 
another commission has issued a devastating critique, noting that 
``there is a dissonance within the system'' and that ``security people 
are not talking to scientists.''
  Mr. Speaker, the issues at stake are too important to ignore. This 
Member urges President Bush to ensure that proper security becomes a 
priority at Federally funded institutions, such as the national weapons 
laboratories, which perform classified work. This Member commends to 
his colleagues an editorial in the February 24, 2001, edition of the 
Omaha World-Herald. As the editorial notes, ``George W. Bush campaigned 
last year on a pledge that he would make the security of the nation's 
nuclear labs a priority. In the wake of these ongoing embarrassments, 
it is essential that his Department of Energy deliver on that 
promise.''

                  Nuclear Security Particularly Urgent

       One of the Clinton administration's greatest failures was 
     the Department of Energy's bumbling efforts to maintain 
     security at the nation's nuclear weapons labs. Last year, 
     after embarrassing security breaches exposed the department's 
     Keystone Kops approach to security, then-Energy Secretary 
     Bill Richardson said his department had finally set things 
     right. Yet, according to a new press report, in his final 
     days in office, Richardson suspended those security measures 
     pending a review, saying they had harmed morale.
       Richardson's action was ill-considered and exasperating. If 
     scientists lack the professionalism to accept the security 
     requirements necessary to safeguard the nation's pre-eminent 
     nuclear research labs, those researchers should seek 
     employment elsewhere.
       This situation did not come about overnight. For many 
     years, well preceding Clinton, scientists at Los Alamos and 
     other labs tended to display an inappropriate elitist 
     attitude, acting as if they were above the common-sense, if 
     inconvenient, security protocols routinely required of 
     everyone else in the defense establishment. The situation 
     worsened during the Clinton administration as top 
     administrative slots at energy were filled by appointees who 
     exhibited far more enthusiasm for ``progressive'' endeavors 
     such as unsealing classified documents about past radiation-
     exposure scandals than in something as passe as buttressing 
     weapons-lab security.
       Last week, the chairman of a commission charged with 
     overseeing security at the nuclear labs described ongoing 
     problems. There is ``dissonance within the system,'' he said, 
     and ``security people are not talking to scientists.'' Those 
     are astounding admissions. Even at this late date, after all 
     the scandals and exposes and reviews, the security 
     arrangements for the weapons tabs are still in a shambles?
       George W. Bush campaigned last year on a pledge that he 
     would make the security of the nation's nuclear labs a 
     priority. In the wake of these ongoing embarrassments, it is 
     essential that his Department of Energy deliver on that 
     promise.

     

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