Livermore Lab Fails Recent Security Test

We hate to say, 'We told you so,' but when POGO released U.S. Nuclear Weapons Complex: Livermore Homes and Plutonium Make Bad Neighbors just two months ago, we recommended that the one ton of weapons-grade and weapons-quantity of plutonium and highly enriched uranium be removed from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (Livermore Lab) within the next year because it cannot be adequately protected. Suicidal terrorists would not need to steal the material, DOE's most dangerous and expensive-to-guard special nuclear material (SNM); they simply could detonate it into an Improvised Nuclear Device on the spot. Roughly seven million people live within a 50 mile radius of Livermore Lab, a nuclear weapons facility located in the greater metropolis of San Francisco, CA, which poses the most significant security threat of any such facility in the U.S.

Now, TIME Magazine is reporting that in late April 2008, government mock terrorists tested Livermore Lab's security, and were able to defeat the protective force and gain access to their target-simulated SNM. After speaking with our sources on the ground at Livermore Lab, as well as at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), POGO has heard some of what happened. We are not that surprised by what we learned. 

One reason the Lab's protective guard force was not able to defend the bomb-making material is because the hydraulic lift on the vehicles used to deploy the Lab's Dillon Aero M134D guns, popularly known as the Gatling gun, did not work. Faced with pressure to demonstrate that the Lab could fend off a terrorist attack, in 2006 NNSA announced the deployment of this enormously lethal weapon capable of firing 4,000 rounds a minute with a military "kill-range" of one mile, but with an ability to kill up to two miles. Within the one-mile range of the Lab are two elementary schools, a pre-school, a middle school, a senior center, and athletic fields. This risk to the population, combined with analysis from Army Special Operations experts, underlies POGO's position that the Gatling is the wrong weapon for the site.

Another reason that the Lab's security was penetrated is that members of the Lab's SWAT team, known as a Special Response Team (SRT), have not trained together as a "team" for years. This goes against law enforcement best practices--guards need opportunities to see how their teammates actually communicate and respond during an emergency.   

POGO is pleased that NNSA Principal Deputy Bill Ostendorff seems to be taking this recent security lapse quite seriously, including raising "a number of areas that require immediate attention," with the Board of Governors of Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC (LLNS),the private contractor who manages the Lab. However, additional training or gadgetry will not change the fact that the Lab is located in a growing residential community-there are now housing developments that sit only 300 yards from Building 332 (the Superblock), which houses the Lab's plutonium and highly enriched uranium.  Livermore Lab can never be a safe place to store SNM for the weapons complex.

We hope that this incident sounds a loud warning bell on Capitol Hill about the need to include language in upcoming appropriations bills that pressures NNSA to remove SNM from Livermore Lab by March 2009, a date that POGO determined after researching whether NNSA has adequate containers, transport, and space at other sites. After releasing our report in March, POGO has been disappointed to learn during meetings with congressional staffers that they are comfortable with NNSA's commitment to remove the material by the end of 2012.  Now is the time to secure this large homeland security vulnerability.

Be sure to check out our press alert and YouTube video (see below) on the security weaknesses at Livermore.

-- Ingrid Drake and Peter Stockton

Less Alphabet Soup, Maybe, but Less Transparency

Back in January we wrote about the pending new rules for federal agencies for control of information considered sensitive but not classified.  We were told that the purpose of the new policy was to ease information-sharing between agencies, most particularly information related to terrorism.  Some of our brethren were perhaps over-optimistic in hoping the new rules would make more info available to the press and public.

Yes, we admit that even we briefly dared to hope.  But our cranky skepticism seems to have been justified.  Now the blogger smintheus  has called to our attention the White House memo to all heads of agencies and departments on the designation and sharing of what had previously been called SBU for Sensitive But Unclassified Information.  The new rules were finally issued on Friday while most of the White House was giddy with wedding doin's down at the ranch.

What's disappointing, if not entirely surprising, is that the Friday memo does not seem to follow either the letter or the spirit of earlier testimony by the administration's Program Manager for the ODNI Information Sharing Environment, Amb. Ted McNamara.  Calling the current situation "unacceptable," McNamara had pointed out that the category of unclassified but regulated information had grown haphazardly and was treated differently at virtually every federal agency.  He told the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Intelligence in April 2007:  "Among the twenty departments and agencies we have surveyed, there are at least 107 unique markings and more than 131 different labeling or handling processes."  McNamara had indicated that he thought a large amount of government information would become releasable.

Clearly something needed to be done to rationalize the situation.  McNamara proposed, and the White House has now accepted, that henceforth all such info will be referred to as Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI).  As smintheus aptly points out, already we have the presumption that the information will be "controlled."

The definition of CUI could not be more amorphous: info that is "pertinent to the national interests of the United States or to the important interests of entities outside the Federal Government."  You can see that almost any factoid could be massaged to fall into that category.  As smintheus pointed out, what could be more vague than "pertinent"?

Under the memo's taxonomy, CUI would be treated according to the amount of protection and handling needed.  The designations are based on whether it needs "Standard" or "Enhanced" Safeguarding; and "Standard" or "Specified" Dissemination.  That means there will be three categories: Standard/Standard; Standard/Specified; Enhanced/Specified.  (It was determined that Enhanced Safeguarding with Standard Dissemination would violate logic.)

Steve Aftergood points out in his Secrecy News today that "the new policy will do nothing to restore public access to government records that have been improperly withheld…To put it another way, the CUI policy does not exclude anything that is currently controlled as Sensitive But Unclassified.  This is a disappointment in light of previous suggestions that wholesale disclosures of currently controlled unclassified information might ensue."

Although the first paragraph of the White House memo declares that the purpose of the new rules is "to standardize practices and thereby improve the sharing of information, not to classify or declassify new or additional information," we fear the actual practice will be to remove from public view vast new categories of government information.

We are also disappointed because the Open Government community had previously written to the White House, asking for a public comment period, but that has not been provided in this memo.  Again, we know we're old-fashioned, but we think the public should have at least some say in how their information is handled.

-- Beverley Lumpkin

Toni Locy's "Day in Court"

A miserable rainy day at the federal courthouse in D.C.--but there may have been a parting of the clouds hanging over former reporter Toni Locy.

In front of a large crowd in the cavernous ceremonial courtroom in the courthouse, attorneys for Locy argued before an appeals court panel of the D.C. Circuit that a lower court judge's ruling against Locy should be thrown out.

Federal Judge Reggie Walton had ruled that Locy would have to pay $5,000 out of her own pocket for refusing to identify sources for stories she had written about the 2001 anthrax attacks that had identified former Army scientist Steven Hatfill as a possible suspect.

Locy had told Walton that she couldn't remember whom she had talked to about the stories, and so he ordered her to divulge the names of every person she ever talked to at the Justice Department or U.S. Attorney's Office.  When she refused, he imposed the $5,000 fine, with the additional and incredibly punitive directive that no one else, including her former newspaper, could help her pay the fines.  As she told Boston Globe columnist Kevin Cullen, "Nicky Scarfo can have a defense fund, Scooter Libby can have a defense fund.  But I can't have a defense fund."

The issue arose because Hatfill is suing the Justice Department for violation of privacy (former Attorney General John Ashcroft memorably set off a furor when he publicly termed Hatfill "a person of interest" in the anthrax investigation) and his attorneys wanted reporters who had covered the case to reveal their sources.  Locy was not the first reporter to write about Hatfill, and she has said she can't recall now who told her what for the story; it was not a personal scoop so it doesn't loom large in her memory.  She was working for USA Today at the time, and had previously covered legal issues for AP, The Washington Post, the Boston Globe, and the Philly Daily News.

Locy is now teaching journalism at West Virginia University, but she was a tough reporter during her days at the DC Courthouse, a tiny but determined figure who always had a perfect manicure and somehow managed to wear stiletto heels every day.  But you always knew she was from Pittsburgh; she always made me think of the Roz Russell character in the classic Chicago newspaper movie, "The Front Page." A profile in the American Journalism Review of April/May quoted me at length describing in admiration what a tough competitor she was.  I bring this up because everyone else who covered those beats with her is conflicted, unable to discuss her case, although they ache for her.

After today's hearing, I talked to one of those colleagues and friends, who told me that the AP story is accurate; the three appeals court judges did express a high degree of skepticism and even exasperation that Hatfill's team was pushing so hard for Locy's sources, when they've already asked for a trial date, proving they're ready to go to trial and think they can win.  The appeals court judges also pointed out that Judge Walton had failed to perform the usual and required balancing test between the public interest and the individual's rights.  My source said Judge Douglas Ginsburg even seemed a bit contemptuous of Hatfill's argument, basically asking them, why are you wasting our time?

Among those in the courtroom, and who surrounded Locy afterward, as she stood there in her flaming red suit and (yes) red stiletto heels, were three former colleagues from her Boston Globe days who had traveled down by train to offer moral support.

Reached by phone, Locy told me, "I was very impressed with the questions that the judges asked.  I thought they had a great command of the facts in the case.  I appreciate that they gave me my day in court."

Locy spent yesterday on Capitol Hill, meeting with staffers regarding the pending shield law, for which she has become the number one poster child.  POGO shares the concerns of all journalists in this matter; the judge actually said he hoped his actions would stop ALL government employees from talking to reporters.  That would certainly affect us at POGO, too, but this is really a subject of central importance to all who care about a thriving democracy.  Remember, it was Thomas Jefferson who said he'd rather have a free press without a government than the other way around.

-- Beverley Lumpkin

POGO's Beverley Lumpkin to Appear on Federal News Radio

Just wanted to give everybody a quick heads up that POGO's Beverley Lumpkin is scheduled to appear on Federal News Radio (WFED) this morning at 11:00 a.m.  The interview will be broadcast live on radio station 1050 AM, and also online at http://federalnewsradio.com/?nid=249.

-- Michael Smallberg

All Thumbs

A fascinating new angle on the Scott Bloch story has just been broken by Ari Shapiro on NPR.  Shapiro is reporting that part of the search warrant served on Bloch on Tuesday included a physical search of Bloch himself in order to seize his computer thumb drive.  In fact, the agents seized two thumb drives from him, according to Shapiro's and POGO's sources.

Shapiro further reports that before having his hard drive "scrubbed"€ by Geeks on Call a couple of years ago, Bloch first downloaded certain files onto the thumb drives.  He has said he had the computers' hard drives erased in order to get rid of a virus.

If Bloch is found to have lied to investigators--whether FBI agents, OPM Inspector General investigators, or staffers of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform who interviewed Bloch earlier this year--then it's possible he could become the latest example of that old Washington adage that it's always the cover-up that gets you in the end.

-- Beverley Lumpkin

Pandemic Flu Still Poses Major Threat

At a meeting held Tuesday in Geneva, health experts from around the world discussed the serious threat posed by a flu pandemic, urging governments to plan now for a potential outbreak.  "We can't delude ourselves.  The threat of a pandemic influenza has not diminished," said Keiji Fukuda, coordinator for the World Health Organization's Global Influenza Program.

Scientists are particularly concerned about a recent strain of bird flu virus that could spread among humans, potentially leading to a full-blown pandemic.  Also, as Fukuda pointed out, some countries are woefully unprepared for an outbreak, with plans consisting of nothing more than a "piece of paper acknowledging the risk." 

Here in the U.S., Secretary of Health and Human Services Mike Leavitt has taken creative measures to prepare for a pandemic flu.  But POGO still has major concerns with the government's plan.  As we discussed in our recent report, Pandemic Flu: Lack of Leadership and Disclosure Plague Vaccine Program, the Department of Health and Human Services has neglected to recruit a permanent director for BARDA, a new agency tasked with facilitating collaboration between government, industry, and academia to develop a flu vaccine.  In addition, the government has failed to disclose some essential documents related to the flu vaccine program, such as contracts with vaccine manufacturers and the program budget.  Without public disclosure of these and other documents, government and health leaders might not learn about problems and possible improvements to the program until it is too late.

Click below to watch a video of POGO's Ned Feder discussing our investigation into the government's pandemic flu vaccine program.

-- Michael Smallberg

Internal Draft Document Reveals Bloch-Headedness

POGO has gained access to an extraordinary internal document from the Office of Special Counsel, an independent federal agency charged with protecting whistleblowers from reprisal.  Clearly marked "DRAFT," it is a memo dated January 18, 2008, to Special Counsel Scott Bloch from the members of a special task force.  The task force was created, according to the memo, in May 2007, "to pursue certain complex and high profile investigations, such as the firing of the U.S. Attorneys and the political presentations given by the White House Office of Political Affairs (OPA)."  The stated subject of the memo is "Summary of Task Force Activities and Recommendations," but it reads at times like an anguished cry from investigators charged with an important mission but virtually every recommendation they make is countermanded by their boss.  If they recommend going forward with an inquiry, Bloch says no.  If they say they lack evidence or jurisdiction, he orders them to go forward.

The inescapable conclusion reached from poring through the contents of this 13-page memo is that Bloch was deliberately creating the impression of a huge ongoing multi-faceted investigation of the White House--at the same time that he himself was being investigated by another arm of the White House for various forms of misconduct.  [NOTE: someone used a highlighter on the document, making certain passages nearly impossible to read.  We have transcribed those darkened parts here.] 

Here is my analysis, along with some juicy quotes.

Continue reading "Internal Draft Document Reveals Bloch-Headedness"

Value for the Money? The Defense Budget Blackhole

Near the end of a recent piece by Fred Kaplan, he wrote in Slate that:

The United States has the world's most powerful military. This military consumes more money (adjusting for inflation) than it did at the height of the Cold War. Not counting the costs of the two wars, it spends as much on the military as the rest of the world's countries combined. And yet, despite all this money and global reach, the U.S. Army finds itself unable to sustain more than 150,000 or so troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Pentagon leaders want us to spend even more, but as Kaplan makes clear, even with our current grotesquely large defense budget, we're having trouble fighting wars against relatively low-tech insurgencies in two medium-sized countries (both Iraq and Afghanistan have populations of around 30 million).  God forbid if we actually have to fight a real war against a near peer (which is being touted as China which has 1.3 billion people and high-tech).  More money is not the answer. 

Some of the problem is what we're buying (i.e. do we have the appropriate military for the conflicts we're in and likely to face?) and how we're buying (i.e. the acquisition process which includes contracting) and how efficiently the contractors we pay with taxpayer dollars develop and produce weapons.  The former two issues are well worn, the third is taken for granted, but shouldn't be.  In the commercial world, industry constantly delivers higher quality products at significantly reduced prices.  In the defense industry, the opposite is true.  It is easy to argue that we pay much more even relative to the increase in quality. 

Continue reading "Value for the Money? The Defense Budget Blackhole"

Breaking News: FBI Agents Raid OSC Offices

The Wall Street Journal and NPR are reporting that FBI agents have raided the offices of Special Counsel Scott Bloch, seizing computers and documents belonging to Bloch and his staff as part of an ongoing investigation into alleged obstruction of justice.  Although Bloch has not been officially charged with any crime, FBI agents also searched his home and shut down email access at OSC offices across the country. 

The Journal previously reported that Bloch hired a private tech company, Geeks on Call, to conduct a seven-layer scrub of his computer and several office laptops.  Bloch claimed he was deleting a virus, but investigators suspect that he was destroying evidence related to allegations that he had used his office for political purposes and retaliated against career employees.

We'll keep you posted as we learn more.

-- Michael Smallberg

UPDATE: Click here for more background on Scott Bloch and the Office of Special Counsel.  You can also learn more by reading POGO's previous blog posts:

http://pogoblog.typepad.com/pogo/2007/11/bloch-scrubs-di.html
http://pogoblog.typepad.com/pogo/2007/05/office_of_speci.html
http://pogoblog.typepad.com/pogo/2006/09/leave_sharon_st.html
http://pogoblog.typepad.com/pogo/2006/05/who_wrote_this_.html
http://pogoblog.typepad.com/pogo/2005/01/purge_at_agency.html

UPDATE 2: POGO is especially interested in what turns up, as we are in the midst of completing an investigation into OSC's handling of whistleblower disclosures and whistleblowing reprisals complaints from Federal Air Marshals.

It Never Hurts to Ask

As agency officials continue to grapple with issues such as competitive sourcing and an aging federal workforce, they should keep in mind that an increasing number of young Americans are expressing an interest in public service, according to a new Gallup survey to be released today by the Council for Excellence in Government.

As reported by Stephen Barr in yesterday's Washington Post, the survey found that nearly a third of Americans under the age of 30 would seriously consider working for the government if asked by their parents, a teacher, or the next president.  The only problem, according to 60 percent of respondents younger than 30, is that nobody has asked them.

Patricia McGinnis, president and chief executive of the council, says that the survey underscores the "potential for the new president and administration, especially as we have the retirement wave getting under way, to ask people, not just millennials but older people as well, to serve. There's a sense that many would respond and step up, as they did when John F. Kennedy asked."

We at POGO yearn for an influx of public-minded young people seeking to fill the ranks of the federal government. Our biggest concern is that many see working as a "fed" as nothing more than a stepping stone to making big bucks in the private sector, rather than a opportunity to serve as a guardian of the public trust. We need a leader who will once again instill in young Americans the pride of becoming a civil servant.

-- Michael Smallberg