US Nuclear Secrets At Risk From Insider Threats With Devastating Consequences: Report

[loam]

US Nuclear Secrets At Risk From Insider Threats With Devastating Consequences: Report



U.S. nuclear secrets are at risk from insider attacks, owing to the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) lack of security, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

“The DOE has not implemented seven required measures for its Insider Threat Program, even after independent reviewers made nearly 50 findings and recommendations to help DOE fully implement its program,” the report says.

...

Incidents

There were about 250 unclassified insider threat-related security incidents in 2017, the most recent data from DOE, according to the report. The incidents included sending classified information over unclassified systems, leaving security areas unattended, and not properly protecting classified information.

“DOE considered about 100 of those incidents to be serious,” the report says.

The report pointed to a 2017 criminal case, when Grigory Trosman was sentenced to 18 months in prison for accepting at least $469,287 in bribes in exchange for official acts he performed while at the DOE.

“From approximately 2002 through March 2014, Trosman used his official position in various capacities to assist co-conspirators and various companies to obtain access to federal research funding and contract work in Lithuania, Russia, and Ukraine,” the Department of Justice said in a press release.

A 2022 report by strategic intelligence firm Strider Technologies found that China has hired at least 162 researchers from Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) over the last 35 years. Many of these researchers went on to conduct military research for China, including deep-earth penetrating warheads, hypersonic missiles, and submarine programs.

At least one researcher hired by China previously held Top Secret security clearance at the DOE, according to the report.


In September 2020, a former LANL scientist was sentenced to probation and fined for lying about his participation in a Chinese state-sponsored recruitment program.

We are so hosed.

Imagine 100 serious incidents in a single year with our nuclear secrets.

No accountability anywhere.

Recall, this is the same arm of government where Sam Briton, the suitcase thief, was deputy assistant secretary of Spent Fuel and Waste Disposition in the Office of Nuclear Energy.



The whole place is a clown show.

[727Sky]

The Chinese have more people working in their Cyber Operations/hacking than some countries have in their total military... Nope can not show a link...just call it my psychic 8 ball !

[EndtheMadnessNow]

Floppies & Nukes...

For more than a half-century, the Air Force command in charge of the US's nuclear arsenal has been using floppy disks to control its system.

The antiquated system has long done its job well and securely, but the Air Force has replaced it with a new "highly secure" digital storage system.
....
Despite the looming problems facing the old floppy-based SACCS, 595th SCS commander Rossi told C4ISRNet that the legacy system offered an advantage that will never be obsolete: security

"I joke with people and say it's the Air Force's oldest IT system. But it's the age that provides that security," Rossi told C4ISRNet of the SACCS in an October interview. "You can't hack something that doesn't have an IP address. It's a very unique system — it is old and it is very good."

The military has gotten rid of the floppy disks used to control US nuclear weapons for more than 50 years

[727Sky]

A little more in depth on Chinese hacking