Two computer hard drives holding nuclear secrets – which disappeared and triggered a major federal probe – have been discovered behind a copying machine at the Los Alamos weapons lab, officials said yesterday.
Stunned federal investigators said they weren’t sure if the hard drives had been there all along or whether they were copied and moved.
The discovery added a strange new twist to the mystery that had embarrassed federal officials.
Energy Secretary Bill Richardson said the two devices were “found within the secure areas of X Division, which houses the vault” where they were previously kept.
Lab officials said the restricted area had been searched before, insisting they “turned the place upside down.”
But one official said it was unclear whether that exact location had been checked.
The hard drives hold a considerable amount of confidential information including data on the dismantling of atomic weapons.
Richardson said a thorough investigation would be undertaken to verify the “authenticity” of the hard drives.
The FBI is checking for fingerprints and will test them electronically today to see if they’ve been handled by non-lab personnel.
The disclosure on Monday that the hard drives had vanished triggered accusations that the Energy Department was negligent.
Yesterday, before the discovery of the hard drives became known, the House Intelligence Committee called the affair “a major failure” and a “potentially devastating compromise … in national security.”
Investigators said 26 people, all nuclear scientists with the highest security clearance, had full access to the 10-by-20-foot vault.
At least six of the scientists have been given polygraph tests since the probe began.
There was speculation that one or more of the scientists had inadvertently removed the hard drives from the walk-in vault and then quietly returned them after the scandal broke.