Test site, other DOE facilities set for special security training
Thursday, July 29, 1999 | 11 a.m.
Work will stop at the Nevada Test Site and other Department of Energy research and weapons sites one day next week to train employees in preventing espionage and tightening national security.
Energy Secretary Bill Richardson on Wednesday ordered the work stand-down for next Tuesday.
"I'm ordering this action to ensure that DOE is doing everything possible to protect America's secrets and sensitive technologies," Richardson said in the announcement. "Without exception, participation is required."
The DOE Nevada Operations Office expects to provide 2,800 federal and contractor employees with an entire day of training on information and security issues, DOE spokesman Darwin Morgan said.
Workers affected include those at the DOE's management contractor Bechtel Nevada, security guards, computer operators, environmental managers and building and maintenance personnel, Morgan said.
The department's attention to espionage and national security comes after reports that China stole nuclear weapons designs from DOE laboratories.
Richardson said he accepted the advice of his newly installed security chief Gen. Eugene E. Habiger, who had scheduled a visit to the Test Site, 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, before the secretary's announcement.
"Security must remain an inherent part of our day-to-day work ethic and culture," Habiger said. "The stand-down is a vital next step to ensure that all of our facilities, regardless of their missions, are living up to that special trust."
Habiger said his Southern Nevada visit had been arranged as part of a whirlwind nationwide tour of DOE facilities.
Tuesday's stand-down is the third ordered by the DOE. The first covered employees at department nuclear weapons labs such as Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore national laboratories in Albuquerque, N.M. and Northern California, respectively.
The second lasted for two weeks and covered secure computer systems at the weapons labs after reports surfaced that a Los Alamos scientist had shifted sensitive weapons files from a secure computer to one accessible to anyone.
The Tuesday stand-down will not affect the weapons labs, Richardson said.
Other sites under the order besides the Test Site are the Savannah River site near Augusta, Ga., the Y-12 Plant at Oak Ridge, Tenn., a plant in Kansas City, Kan., Pantex in Amarillo, Texas, Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Lab near Idaho Falls and the Rocky Flats plutonium production plant near Denver.
Additional sites that deal with research, academic exchanges and other nonclassified work, many of them at universities, will be shut down for security training before the end of August.
The DOE will offer employees seminars and conferences on terrorism, cyber-security, export regulations, computer hacking, problems connected with disgruntled employees and unintentional errors.
archive
- Most Read
- Discussed
- Most E-mailed
- Wonder drug for men no success story
- CityCenter: One man’s concept of a real city
- Man, 18, arrested for DUI in crash that kills woman, 24
- Notebook: UNLV prospect Polee likes what he sees, and hears, at the Mack
- Bellfield tolls again for UNLV in 76-71 win over Louisville
- Man fatally shot during robbery attempt of woman
- Pitino doesn’t consider loss to UNLV a total loss
- The ball’s in Reid’s court: Passing the public option
- Palin has a way of bringing out the anger in people
- Del Sol rallies without top rusher to win Sunrise title
Blogs
Elsewhere
LV woman robs Kentucky strip club, police say (1 Comment)
Las Vegas Sands' Hong Kong IPO flops
The Kats Report
Monday List: Top 13 Moments and Observations From Thanksgiving Weekend (1 Comment)
Politics: Ralston's Flash
Tarkanian: Reid is liberal, out of touch, rude, poisonously partisan and a know-it-all (1 Comment)
The Kats Report
Barry Manilow off to Paris: Two-year deal starts March 5 at Le Theatre des Arts (2 Comments)
Politics: Ralston's Flash
Ensign survives radio interview with no follow-ups; partial transcript below (2 Comments)
Now and Then
Battle of I-74 settled 1,700 miles from home
Calendar »
- 30 Mon
- 1 Tue
- 2 Wed
- 3 Thu
- 4 Fri
-
DJ showdown at Prive
Prive | 10 p.m. to 11:59 p.m.
-
Rok Box with Mike Carbonell at Tabu
Tabú Ultralounge | 10 p.m. to 11:59 p.m.
-
DJ Riz at Jet
Jet | 10 p.m. to 11:59 p.m.
-
Football specials at Diablo's
Diablos Cantina
The Sun
Locally owned and independent for more than 50 years.
Technorati









