Sunday, February 18, 2007

 

FBI queried on security breach

Roger, Roger, Roger...

I thought you had outgrown that nasty tendency of being a friendly mouthpiece of the LANL Administration. As you well know, the FBI is also investigating the validity of the claim that former Associate Director John Mitchell violated security rules by taking a laptop with classified information on it to his home. That is not mentioned anywhere in your fluff piece.

Small town newspaper -- what else should we expect, I guess.

-Pat, The Dog

*************************************
http://www.lamonitor.com/articles/2007/02/17/headline_news/news02.txt

FBI queried on security breach


ROGER SNODGRASS Monitor Assistant Editor

What did the FBI learn from the discovery of 1,588 pages of classified and unclassified documents in the home of a subcontract worker near Los Alamos National Laboratory?

That's what House investigators want to know now about the security breach that came to light in October.

The FBI is investigating the unauthorized access and removal of classified information as an ongoing criminal investigation, but the Oversight and Investigation Subcommittee has asked for a briefing on the FBI's clearance system at LANL and, by implication, throughout the nuclear complex.

"The recent incident at LANL, and the findings in the Inspector General's report, indicate there may be significant deficiencies involving the application of personnel security policies and standards within the Department," wrote the chairman and ranking member of the subcommittee on Thursday to FBI Dir. Robert Mueller III.

Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich. and Rep. Ed Whitfield, R-Ky., presided over hearings Jan. 31 that included testimony by energy department officials and top officials of the National Nuclear Security Administration that oversees LANL.

The congressmen pointed out that security weaknesses were identified in the Government Accountability Office's testimony during an Armed Services hearing and noted that Energy Secretary Bodman was transferring two additional security experts from headquarters to Los Alamos.

The FBI receives about $1 million a year from DOE to perform portions of security clearances and related investigations.

The congressmen want to know if the FBI examined how the subcontract employee involved in the removal of classified material got her clearance and what further assurances need to be made in the system.


Comments:
Come on, now, let's cut Roger some slack. He probably wanted to mention it, but Ralph (who is the *real* LANL Administration mouthpiece for the Monitor) no doubt edited that part out.

That's Ralph Damiani, Editor of the Los Alamos Monitor, famous for such cutting-edge editorials such as

http://www.lamonitor.com/articles/2007/02/18/editorials/editorial01.txt

and

http://www.lamonitor.com/articles/2007/02/18/editorials/editorial02.txt

'Nuff said.
 
P Dog Do you know something that no one else does? You say "As you well know, the FBI is also investigating the validity of the claim that former Associate Director John Mitchell violated security rules by taking a laptop with classified information on it to his home". This sounds like a fact?

On Thursday, Feb 1., I asked Terry Wallace if John Mitchell was fired or being investigated. His response was that Mitchell left for personal reasons, and Mitchell had told him of the struggling with the decision in early October before the Jessica Q. event. I later asked the senior security advisor in our organization, and he said that there was no LANL investigation of Mitchell, nor had there ever been one. Mitchell never checked out acrem or crem. I sent an inquiry to the local FBI, and a terse response came back that no comments on ongong investigations,, but there was no active investigation of Mitchell.

So, P Dog, tell us what your source of information is. You state it as fact in your post, and you owe the blogsphere the truth.
 
Poster ,

If you were here at LANL in 2004, then you will remember that lab management was claiming that the DX Division disks that triggered the shutdown were missing right up until the FBI report was released, six months after the event. In fact, as the report indicated, the disks had never even existed. Yet, in spite of this knowledge, lab management kept up the lie until the last possible moment. Not only were lab managers aware of the truth of the situation, but they used the lie as justification for firing Todd Kauppila.

Now, you may believe lab management this time around, if you choose to. Myself, I have heard a detailed description of the real version of events from a source that I trust, and it belies the official lab management version of the reasons behind Mitchell's sudden departure. I do not believe the LANL management version of the story behind why Mitchell left the lab just 5 months into his two-year contract.

When the FBI report is released (if it is released) we will all know more.

-Pat, The Dog
 
Ooh, Terry Wallace. Yes, 10:44 AM, now there's a trusted source. Sure thing, if Terry said it, I'll believe it.

Not.
 
For those of you who trust that our government will "do the right thing" here with respect to the FBI/Congress releasing all pertinent findings about the latest set of security violations at LANL, it might be instructive to look elsewhere inside government to see what kind of standards exist regarding disclosure of 'inconvenient truths'.

Enter the whistleblower...

From: http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/02/18/lunchbox.lead.ap/index.html


Lead-laden lunchboxes OK'd by government

POSTED: 1:22 p.m. EST, February 18, 2007
Story Highlights
• Study found one in five vinyl lunchboxes tested contained unsafe amounts of lead
• CPSC statement indicated "no instances of hazardous levels"
• FDA sent a letter to manufacturers warning of possibly dangerous lead levels
• Experts say elevated levels of lead in blood a significant health hazard for children
Adjust font size:
Decrease fontDecrease font
Enlarge fontEnlarge font

(AP) -- In 2005, when government scientists tested 60 soft, vinyl lunchboxes, they found that one in five contained amounts of lead that medical experts consider unsafe -- and several had more than 10 times hazardous levels.

But that's not what they told the public.

Instead, the Consumer Product Safety Commission released a statement that they found "no instances of hazardous levels." And they refused to release their actual test results, citing regulations that protect manufacturers from having their information released to the public.

That data was not made public until The Associated Press received a box of about 1,500 pages of lab reports, in-house e-mails and other records in response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed a year ago.

[...]
 
Who's going to believe Terry Wallace? Not anyone who took him at his word several years ago when he told folks if they had comments to make about LANL send them to him, and he would keep them confidential. Not true. The comments went right back to the division and group leaders.

Terry, I hope you are reading this because I know what I sent you went right back to Bishop and Dotson.
 
Terry Wallace has screwed and betrayed more people to get his PATSIE position than you can even imagine. Just ask anyone who submitted a "confidential e-mail" to him. He sent those e-mails to SET members, division leaders, Lab Legal and got numerous people in trouble for sharing with him the corruption in his former Directorate. At least Micheline tried to fix some of the corruption in ADSR and then Terry fired her too. It is bad news for the people at the Lab that Terry has risen to such a powerful position. Do not ever trust a word that man says.
 
Yeah nobody should believe Terry. He promised to protect whistleblowers. Yet, when a postdoc came forward and blew the whistle he punished the postdoc and allowed them to be fired because he would not do the right thing and fire the postdoc's superiors!! I guess in the end Terry got away with it and got rid of the problem and got promoted and so all is well in the world up on the hill.
 
poster 6:03

A summary of the incident. An injury occurs to a Post Doc who is doing work completely out of an IWD. The Post Doc blames the Supervisor. DOE investigates. LANL investigates. Outside review. All concur the post doc lied. Supervisor exonerated. Lab Director (Kuckuck) fires post doc.

The whole lab is sick of being blamed for the actions of a few. We demand individual accountability. This is an example of the lab demanding accountability and acting on it. Kuckuck should be lauded.
 
Poster 6:23pm

Everyone should be accountable for their work, and no one should have be doing any work without knowing his responsibilities.

I'm not sure what you mean by "An injury occurs to a Post Doc who is doing work completely out of an IWD." Was he working according to an IWD and got hurt, or was he working incorrectly, not following the IWD, and got hurt? Did he lie about getting hurt because he was working incorrectly or because he was afraid that if he told the truth, he'd be fired?

There's too much pressure on people at LANL not to report injuries, not to rock the boat, not to have any problems, etc. It's an unhealthy climate and leads to lying if people are afraid that telling the truth will cause them to lose their jobs.

If you don't believe this is true, look at the main post on safety. LANS management does not feel responsible to the employees to make sure that conditions are safe. They seem only to care about the numbers - keep them small and keep folks from reporting injuries to HSR-2.
 
It's too bad that folks who believed they were emailing in private to Wallace did not call him on breaking his word. And he has a Q clearance?

Seems the process of granting Q's is flawed if keeping your word is not important. Of course, the poor contractor who walked out with all sorts of classified data on a USB device should never have been able to use a USB device on the secure. The security issues with USB devices were reported to S-ll in Aug 2005. Did the S-ll person who received this report get fired because of not following up? Of course not. Instead the person who reported it, a contractor, suddenly had his/her contract canceled just before the DOE audit in 2006. Another coverup?
 
You make a good point 7:05 pm. The people who granted Wallace a Q are hopefully reading the blog.
 
Poster 6:23 - Postdoc never fired. Postdoc resigned. Then postdoc sued the Lab ... and won.
 
7:05 -- "poor contractor" What bullsh*t. Jessica
Q knew exactly what she was doing, and violated
every security rule. You blame S-11 and not poor
old Jessica Q? Unbelievable.

Jessica Q did a terrible thing. it was not some
manager's fault. It was not the fault of some evil
LANS corporation. It was not the fault of butt-head
Bodman. It was HER FAULT.
 
Poster 7:34

Nope - doesn't work that way. Remember, if someone is doing something that's not safe, you are supposed to stop them. If you see them working unsafely, don't stop them, and they get hurt, you are responsible too.

Same for security. As soon as S-11 was told about the potential for moving data to USB devices on the secure, they should have jumped on it. They did not. So they are just as responsible as Jessica.

We are all supposed to be on the watch for each other. So there is no longer individual responsibility - but group responsibility.
 
JQ IS INNOCENT!

The real truth will come from the FBI report. John
Mitchell framed JQ. It was Mitchell that downloaded the SRD, and broke into her sidewide
and planted the thumb drive. This was part of Mitchell's plan to discredit LANL enough to have Anastazio (UPTE spelling) fired. Then Mitchell could take over, and Bechtel could accelerate the transformation of LANL into a huge pit factory.

Unfortunately, Mitchell sampled some of the meth
in JQ's abode, and was found wondering on Trinity babbling something about Mike Mallory's tupee.

All this will come out with the FBI report. We have to hope that the trilateral commision does not intercept it, but the truth is out there!
 
"Unfortunately, Mitchell sampled some of the meth in JQ's abode, and was found wondering on Trinity babbling something about Mike Mallory's tupee."

Now there's an image.
 
Poster 8:07

You got this all wrong. JQ was framed by the Livermore Cabal. Mike and the musketeers hope to shut down LANL so that LLNL could prosper even though they can seem to design a RRW right.
Mike asked Bret Knapp to sweet talk JQ into downloading the material with a promise of a fun filled trip to the bay area.

The second part of the plan called for getting rid of Mitchell and Bechtel. Mike asked Charlie McMillan to give Mitchell a classified labtop. Mithcell had no idea what a laptop was; he was still working with pencils from yucca mountain. Little Mike (McMillan) told Mitchell it was a photo album, and not to open it until his birthday. By the time John opened the laptop it was too late. The crack security team lead by Sowa swept in and arrested poor John.

So, fast forward to today. Mitchell is gone, the lab is on the ropes. Only a couple more parts of the plan and Teller's lab will rule. Look for some sneaky stuff in the next week like Pedicini failing a drug test........
 
Poster 8:07

That sounds like a great made for TV movie!
 
You people need to talk to Kim Thomas (former DDL for Chemistry and newly promoted to the DL for STB) - she will tell you the truth about the supervisor referred to in post 6:03 ... she fully supported the postdoc and NOT the supervisor who was subsequently kicked out of Chemistry Division!!
 
How about the 7:05pm post? Reporting a security problem to S-11 and S-11 not acting on it makes perfect sense. So now there's a subplot where all the computer security people are running around trying to make sure no USB devices can be used on the secure and trying to make sure that no one further up the line learns that they were told of this vulnerability over a year before Jessica Q took advantage of it.

Oh, wait, S-ll has already had their behinds covered because now the possible whistleblower no longer works at LANL. So they think they are safe. But what happens to S-11 if the whistleblower writes the Congressional Delegation about notifying S-11 and can prove that he/she notified them?

Subplot after subplot. It's beginning to sound like a Clancy novel, mostly true with a little color added.

Oh, S-11, you really blew it.
 
I sent Snodgrass an extremely detailed list comparing old (pre-LANS) management to the new, estimating the cost increment at $36M, just due to the new bloated management structure. He never published it...
 
Poster 2/19/2007 7:19 AM:

If you send me the article, I will post it here.

-Pat
 
Your conspiracy stories about JQ are all wrong. Let me help set the record straight.

John Mitchell is a space alien. Mitchell fell in love with JQ several months ago and set her up in the Royal Crest trailer park. He used her trailer as his love nest getaway.

Unfortunately, Mitchell wasn't "safety-minded", and ended up getting JQ pregnant with his alien love-child. When Mitchell found out that JQ was pregnant, he decided to abandoned her. JQ took the secret material out of LANL as a means to blackmail Mitchell into supporting their future alien love-child.

I have pictures that prove all of this. It's going to blow the cover off the evil Bechtelian plan to dominate the earth and turn us all into Bechtelian 'love slaves'.

Oh, and one more thing. Be careful, because Mikey is a Bechtelian robot owned and remotely controlled by Mitchell. He is a Model ABM-601 robot. That means Mikey is equipped with special butane tanks that can destroy any attacker by shooting red-hot flames out his ass. Never stand behind this man or you will be very sorry.
 
Now that our brief comical interlude on this thread is behind us, back to the FBI, and Mitchell.

During the Congressional hearings last month, Congressman Whitfeld, Kentucky, brought up the following three topics in quick succession while he was questioning Anastasio:

1. Mr. Anastasio, does LANL have a whistleblower policy?
2. Mr. Anastasio, I note that Associate Director John Mitchell left his position after just 5 months.
3. Mr. Anastasio, I understand that the FBI is investigating the current security lapse, and that additional findings might surface as a result of the investigation, is that correct?

This last question was repeated several times by other committee members during the course of the hearings.

Anastasio's answers were "Yes." "Yes." And "Yes".

Those questions clearly indicated that the hearings committee was quite aware that Mitchell's sudden departure deserved closer scrutiny. They also implied knowledge of a whistleblower having turned him in. Shortly after the hearings, this rumor circulated:

" A meeting of laboratory fellows this week discussed Mitchell's removal of classified information, according to the anecdote, perhaps unknowingly.

His admin, while doing property, realized a laptop was at his house, that it contained classified information, and bravely (and correctly) notified SIT."


Of course, whether or not the FBI can actually produce a finding without stumbling all over their flat feet remains to be seen. Their less-than-stellar performance on the Wen Ho Lee case does not inspire confidence.
 
9:38 pm - Even KT, who has had it in for the supervisor for years, eventually snapped to the fact that the postdoc is a manipulative loon. Postdoc didn't "win" a lawsuit, postdoc accepted a settlement offered by the lab to avoid the cost of litigation (lab always settles). Supervisor was reorg'ed out of C Division on June 1, not kicked out.
 
Information Assets Management, Inc., the lab subcontractor that employed Jessica Quintana who was found with nearly 1600 pages of sensitive nuclear documents in her home, had its LANL contract terminated in January in the wake of the security breach scandal. However, Information Assets now claims that it has been cleared by the FBI of any wrongdoing in the security breach. It is unclear how Information Assets learned this, or whether it is true, because the results of the FBI investigation have not yet been disclosed publicly or to Congress.
 
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