The federal agency responsible for keeping the nation’s secrets nuclear has not implemented an “insider-threat” program that would protect it from fraudsters, leakers, and spies. This is despite a presidential directive to this effect.
In a bluntly worded report, the Government Accountability Office claims that the Energy Department failed to take action on four independent reviews highlighting gaps in the efforts to create an Insider Threat Program. It also notes that in 2017, the last year for which data were available, there was a total of 250 insider threats-related incidents. These included sending classified information to unclassified systems and leaving security areas unattended.
The report also notes that there were several malicious incidents. One of them was a manager of a nuclear safety programme who received an 18-month sentence for accepting nearly $500,000 as bribes for official acts.
The GAO stated that “the theft of nuclear materials and the compromise information could have disastrous consequences.” The GAO said that threats can come from outside adversaries, or ‘insiders’, including employees or visitors who have trusted access. Such threats could result in significant consequences for national safety, and include unauthorized disclosure of classified information, workplace violence, or improper access nuclear weapons material.
The GAO report follows NBC News ‘s exclusive report last year, which revealed that at least 154 Chinese researchers who had worked on government sponsored research at Los Alamos National Laboratory of the Energy Department over the past two decades were recruited to work in China. Some of these scientists helped advance military technologies that threatened America’s national safety.
Strider Technologies released a report that described what they called a systematic effort by the Chinese Government to place Chinese scientists in Los Alamos where nuclear weapons were developed for the first time. Many of the scientists were later lured back to China to help make advances in such technologies as deep-earth-penetrating warheads, hypersonic missiles, quiet submarines and drones, according to the report. The report said that the scientists received up to $1 million for participating in Beijing’s talent programs, which were designed to recruit Chinese researchers to return to Asia.
In 2020 , a former Los Alamos scientist admitted to lying about his participation in a Chinese recruiting program. However, the majority of the conduct described by the report seems to have been legal. Insider threat programs aim to reduce the risk of technology transfers like those described in the Strider Report.
In a response that was included in the GAO’s report, the Energy Department stated it agreed with the GAO’s recommendations and made a number of promises. The department didn’t immediately respond to an inquiry for comment.
According to the report, Energy Department employs more than 13,000 people and has a network that includes 120,000 contractors. A significant number of these employees have security clearances.
After an Army private released tens and thousands of sensitive documents in 2011, the government required that all agencies establish an insider-threat program.
