Bush Slammed On Nuke Security

The Bush administration is not doing enough to secure U.S. nuclear weapons facilities from terrorists, who could quickly use materials stored there to make atomic bombs, a Democratic congressman alleged in a new report Tuesday.

Massachusetts Democratic Rep. Edward Markey said lax security at Department of Energy facilities such as New Mexico's Los Alamos National Laboratory and California's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory posed "an unacceptable level of risk that terrorists could successfully target these sites."

Markey, a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, blamed Bush administration budget cuts and foot-dragging by the Energy Department almost a year after the Sept. 11 attacks.

"It is clear that the DOE has continued its long tradition of aggressive indifference to the security of its nuclear weapons facilities," he said. "Incredibly, the White House has twice refused to fund security activities described by the secretary of energy as 'urgent security needs.'"

The report was based on more than 250 pages of documents provided to Markey by the Energy Department. Ten major U.S. nuclear facilities, many located near urban areas, hold enough weapons-grade plutonium or enriched uranium to build crude nuclear bombs, it said.

The Energy Department in March requested almost $380 million in extra funds to bolster its nuclear security measures, but the bulk of the request was denied by the White House Budget Office.

Congress then included $138 million for nuclear security in a recent emergency spending bill, but President Bush said he would not spend that money, or another $5 billion in other congressional priorities, due to budget constraints.

Amy Call, spokeswoman for the White House Office of Management and Budget, said the president had to choose whether to spend all or none of the $5 billion, and he considered $4 billion of it to be wasteful.

She said the National Nuclear Security Administration received $653 million to protect nuclear facilities and shipments in the current year, a sharp increase from the $411 million spent on security throughout the Energy Department last year.

"It is clear that DOE has continued its long tradition of aggressive indifference to the security of its nuclear weapons facilities," Markey said in a statement.

NNSA spokesman Bryan Wilkes said the agency is confident that its nuclear weapons facilities are secure.

"Do we want more money? Sure. Could we use it? Sure. Who couldn't? But are things any less safe without more money? Certainly not," he said.

Wilkes said security was scaled back as facilities shut down after the Cold War, but hundreds of guards have been hired since Sept. 11, which is not reflected in Markey's figures.

"Any implication that nothing has changed in our security since Sept. 11 is patently ridiculous," Wilkes said.

While the bulk of the cuts in security forces came during the Clinton administration, Markey said the administration of the first President Bush also bears responsibility for underfunding security.

Markey also said records showed computer hackers have broken into DOE computers numerous times since 1999. The breaches varied in their severity, but some were ``root-level'' compromises, which meant the hacker had enough access that a virus could be installed.

Wilkes said the hacking was not a coordinated effort. He said no classified or sensitive information was compromised and said that safeguards have been added to prevent future such attacks.