Unauthorized guns brought onto Test Site

Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2005 | 10:42 a.m.

A federal employee and a contracted security officer brought four handguns onto the Nevada Test Site without proper authorization, according to a report released by the Energy Department's office of the inspector general.

The report found that two government handguns were signed out from the Energy Department's National Training Center in Albuquerque, N.M., without following armory requirements, and that the handguns were passed among several individuals at the Test Site without following chain of custody requirements.

The two government-issue handguns appear to have not been properly tracked when they were moved to the armory in New Mexico in 2001, the report states.

Two privately owned handguns were also brought onto Test Site property, one by an Office of Secure Transportation employee and one by a Wackenhut security guard, according to the report. The federal employee took his handgun to the Test Site to have the security guard make repairs on it, the report states.

The report calls for the Energy Department to enhance safeguards and security for weapons control.

Officials with the National Nuclear Security Administration said that they have taken added precautions in the management of weapons at facilities and that weapons are now inventoried daily.