Oops, That Should Have Been Kept Secret

Oak Ridge National Laboratory; Santa encounters tight security during a wartime visit to Oak Ridge.

It's hard to believe that a document so sensitive that it cannot be released to the public was put up on an official US website. But you know how scatterbrained some of their employees are. Or was it really a mistake?

Another good reason to control the internet? The new Cyber Czar will see to it.

And where is the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty IAEA report from Israel? Oh yeah, they are not a signatory.

_____________

US nuclear 'treasure map for terrorists' posted in error on government website {Guardian UK}

Wednesday 3 June 2009

An exhaustive list of America's nuclear sites – including maps showing the location of fuel for nuclear weapons – has been accidentally posted on a government website, but the Obama administration denied that the leak had jeopardised national security.

The 266-page document, marked "highly confidential", was removed from the website of the Government Printing Office last night following media inquiries.

Barack Obama had ordered the report for the International Atomic Energy Agency in the hopes of prodding other countries, such as Iran, to submit similar classified information nuclear activities to the agency.

In his accompanying letter to Congress, Obama described the information as "sensitive but unclassified". Nearly every page is stamped "highly confidential safeguards sensitive".

"The enclosed draft declaration lists each site, location, facility, and activity I intend to declare to the IAEA," he wrote.

It was not immediately clear how the report, with details of hundreds of US nuclear facilities, including reactor sites and confidential sites at weapons labs, ended up on the website of the Government Printing Office.

Its publication was first noted on Monday by Steve Aftergood, who publishes a blog on government secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists.

The report contains information on America's nuclear weapons labs at Los Alamos in New Mexico, Livermore and Sandia as well as scores of other nuclear sites.

In its potentially most serious breach, the report provides a map showing the exact location of a storage site for highly enriched weapons grade uranium at the heavily guarded Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee.

The Obama administration admitted the information should never have been released. But Damien LaVera, a spokesman for the National Nuclear Security Administration, said in a statement that the disclosure posed no risk to security.

"The departments of energy, defence and commerce and the [Nuclear Regulatory Commission] all thoroughly reviewed it to ensure that no information of direct national security significance would be compromised."

Even so, some security analysts today raised concerns that thieves or terrorists could make use of the maps that show where the nuclear fuels are stored.

Kit Bond, the leading Republican on the Senate's intelligence committee, told reporters it was a "virtual treasure map for terrorists."

However, military and civilian experts concluded that the document – while offering an extensive account of the US nuclear complex – did not pose a serious danger as much of the information was already in the public realm.

"These screw-ups happen," John Deutch, a former director of central intelligence and deputy secretary of defence told the New York Times. "It's going further than I would have gone but doesn't look like a serious breach."

_____________


Obama IAEA nuclear sites declaration for the United States, draft, 267 pages, 5 May 2009

June 1, 2009
Summary {Wikileaks}

States that are signatories to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty are required to confidentially provide the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) with a description of the location and purpose of each of their nuclear sites.

The document presents a sensitive 5 May, 2009 draft of all US nuclear sites for Congressional review together with a covering note from President Barack Obama giving more detail on the restrictions.

It seems that by mistake, the entire document, including the sensitive portions--labeled as such on every page--was printed by the US Government Printing Office.

A day after its publication here, and on Secrecy News, the GPO removed the document from its website, according a story published in the New York Times two days later.

The document is likely to be of substantial interest to environmental activists.

From the pdf file:

111th Congress, 1st Session – – – – – – – – – – – – – House Document 111–37

THE LIST OF SITES, LOCATIONS, FACILITIES, AND ACTIVITIES DECLARED TO THE INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES TRANSMITTING A LIST OF THE SITES, LOCATIONS, FACILITIES, AND ACTIVITIES IN THE UNITED STATES DECLARED TO THE INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY (IAEA), UNDER THE PROTOCOL ADDITIONAL TO THE AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND THE INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY FOR THE APPLICATION OF SAFEGUARDS IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, WITH ANNEXES, AS REQUIRED BY SECTION 271 OF PUBLIC LAW 109–401

MAY 6, 2009.—Message and accompanying papers referred to the
Committee on Foreign Affairs and ordered to be printed.

To the Congress of the United States:

I transmit herewith a list of the sites, locations, facilities, and activities in the United States that I intend to declare to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), under the Protocol Additional to the Agreement between the United States of America and the International Atomic Energy Agency for the Application of Safeguards in the United States of America, with Annexes, signed at Vienna on June 12, 1998 (the ‘‘U.S.-IAEA Additional Protocol’’), and constitutes a report thereon, as required by section 271 of Public Law 109–401. In accordance with section 273 of Public Law 109–401, I hereby certify that:

(1) each site, location, facility, and activity included in the list has been examined by each department and agency with national security equities with respect to such site, location, facility, or activity; and
(2) appropriate measures have been taken to ensure that information of direct national security significance will not be compromised at any such site, location, facility, or activity in connection with an IAEA inspection.

The enclosed draft declaration lists each site, location, facility, and activity I intend to declare to the IAEA, and provides a detailed description of such sites, locations, facilities, and activities, and the provisions of the U.S.-IAEA Additional Protocol under which they would be declared. Each site, location, facility, and activity would be declared in order to meet the obligations of the United States of America with respect to these provisions. The IAEA classification of the enclosed declaration is ‘‘Highly Confidential Safeguards Sensitive’’; however, the United States regards this information as ‘‘Sensitive but Unclassified.’’

Nonetheless, under Public Law 109–401, information reported to, or otherwise acquired by, the United States Government under this title or under the U.S.-IAEA Additional Protocol shall be exempt from disclosure under section 552 of title 5, United States Code.

BARACK OBAMA.
THE WHITE HOUSE, May 5, 2009.

From Wikileaks

Thanks to Greg Bacon for the tip.