May 21, 2004
By KEAY DAVIDSON
Special to the Chronicle

A device containing computer data on nonnuclear high explosives is missing at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, the lab reported Thursday.

The loss is the latest instance in which lab computer equipment has been reported missing, although lab officials downplayed the significance of the incident.

"It's our very firm belief this does not constitute any sort of threat to national security," said lab spokesman Kevin Roark. He blamed it on "basically an administrative error -- it's a paperwork thing."

The loss was detected during the lab's effort to slash its supply of computer storage devices such as CDs and Zip drives used to store classified data, which pose a security risk because a spy or thief could spirit them out of the lab.

Eventually, for security reasons, Los Alamos officials hope to switch to a so-called "medialess" environment. Ideally, lab scientists would do research by using "dumb terminal" computer displays to access a centralized, highly secure data source.

Roark said the device containing information about chemical explosives -- not nuclear weapons -- is the only missing item among 50,000 similar devices.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/2585105