National Security Report: Background and Perspective on Important National Security and Defense Policy Issues. Volume 3, Issue 3, September 1999. Reforming the Department of Energy: Safeguarding America's Nuclear Secrets
Abstract
The Department of Energy (DOE) is responsible for the development and maintenance of the U.S. nuclear arsenal. Much of this important work occurs at the Lawrence Livermore, Los Alamos, and Sandia nuclear laboratories in California and New Mexico and involves the most sensitive American nuclear secrets. For many years, the adequacy of security measures at these facilities has been subject to criticism, and in 1994, background checks on foreign visitors to the Los Alamos and Sandia weapons laboratories were suspended. At the same time that the number of foreign visitors and from sensitive countries increased from 500 to more than 1,600 between 1988 and the mid-1990s, DOE's countermtelligence budget was declining. A series of reports by the General Accounting Office documented serious security risks inherent in DOE's foreign visitors program.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 1999
- Accession Number
- ADA377468
Entities
People
- Floyd Spence