Chicago Sun Times
>
> Nuclear weapons lab's keys are lost
>
> November 9, 2003
> BY DAVID RENNIE
>
> WASHINGTON -- A U.S. nuclear weapons laboratory must replace up to 100,000
> locks at a cost of more than $1.6 million, after staff lost several sets of
> master keys to the complex, then failed to notify superiors, it emerged > Friday.
>
> The extraordinary series of security blunders at the Lawrence Livermore
> National Laboratory is outlined in a scathing report by the U.S. Energy
> Department's inspector general.
>
> According to the report, officials at the laboratory have lost nine master
> keys and three magnetic key cards to the top-secret research facility. In
> some cases, officials still do not know when or how the keys went missing. >
> In at least one instance, a loss only came to light after a locksmith blew
> the whistle on security officers who tried to have duplicate master keys
> made to replace a set they had lost. Such master keys are only entrusted to
> a handful of staff.
>
> The Livermore laboratory was founded in 1952 as the United States entered
> its long nuclear arms race with the Soviet Union. Scientists at Livermore
> developed nuclear warheads for numerous weapons, including the Minutemen > series.
>
> The University of California, which runs the Livermore laboratory for the
> federal government, has been sharply criticized for security blunders at
> another site it manages, the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
>
> Daily Telegraph
>formatting link
--Shiva--