Nuclear Security Agency Loses Track of PCs

By Greg McNevin

April 3, 2007: In a worrying case of missing hardware, 20 computers are unaccounted for inside the US National Nuclear Security Agency, a division of the Energy Department.

According to the New York Times, the Energy Department inspector general has found in a recent audit that 14 of the missing 20 computers were used to view classified information. What is even more perplexing for a secret government department, is computers that aren’t listed in its inventory are being used, as is one that was recorded as being destroyed.

The NY Times reports that this is the 13th time in around four years the department has been found to have lost track of its computer inventory. More than disconcerting for a department that handles the design and construction of nuclear warheads, not to mention protecting the nation from the theft of bomb information by foreign spies.

Earlier this year the department Administrator Linton F. Brooks was relieved of his post over security problems, and the audit’s report certainly inst painting a rosy picture of security within the department.

Disappearing laptops can prove costly in the business world, however, for a department responsible for nuclear arms such reckless hardware accounting truly boggles the mind.

Craig Stevens, a spokesman for the department told the paper that Energy Secretary Samuel W. Bodman “recognizes that we need to manage this place better.”

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