A routine police drug bust in a New Mexico trailer home late last month uncovered an unexpected find: stolen classified data from the UC-managed Los Alamos National Laboratory, the nation’s premier nuclear weapons research facility.
The Los Alamos Police Department uncovered not only methamphetamines, but also classified information stored on a USB flash drive, which was confiscated and subsequently linked back to former lab subcontract employee Jessica Quintana, who lived in the trailer during the time of the raid.
Police turned the information over to the FBI, and bureau Special Agent Bill Elwell confirmed that an ongoing investigation is taking place.
“[The FBI is] currently still analyzing evidence and conducting interviews during the aftermath of executing our search warrant,” Elwell said.
He declined to discuss the nature of the stolen data.
In a security briefing following the incident, LANL Director Michael Anastasio told all laboratory employees in a letter to “take prompt and appropriate action — demonstrating that we understand the seriousness of this matter and that we are dealing with it.”
Although he refused to comment about the pending investigation, LANL spokesman Kevin Roark confirmed that the laboratory is implementing measures not only to deal with current security risks, but also to prevent any future incidents.
Quintana, 22, had worked at the lab for three years, and was an archivist until her work contract expired a few weeks ago.
She worked in three LANL divisions: Safeguards and Security — which deals with nuclear material control and accountability — the top-secret X-Division and a physics division.
Although the lab is under new management, Project on Government Oversight Director Danielle Brown said that LANL has not concentrated enough of its efforts on prevention of security breaches. Brown told the Associated Press that it was “disturbing” that classified information was found during an apparently routine drug raid.
The investigation will address the yet-unanswered questions of how and why the confidential documents appeared at the scene of the raid, according to Elwell.
The crime carries a maximum punishment of a $100,000 fine and a sentence of one year in federal prison.
LANL, which produced the first atomic bomb in 1945, has had a history of high-profile security breaches during the past decade. The most notable case involved nuclear scientist Wen Ho Lee, who pleaded guilty to a felony count of mishandling nuclear secrets in September 2000.
In 2002, a government audit found $195,246 in questionable transactions. Also, the lab was shut down for seven months in 2004 so federal investigators could locate a missing computer disk containing classified information. The disk was later determined to have never existed.
Quintana’s attorney said that she took the material home to work on it, but later forgot about it, according to CBS News.
