washington

Classified computer operations at the US Department of Energy's nuclear weapons laboratories are expected to return to normal this week, after a week-long ‘stand-down’ intended to focus employees’ attention on security issues.

The ‘stand-down’, which began on 2 April, was ordered by energy secretary Bill Richardson. It was supposed to make each of the three laboratories— Los Alamos and Sandia in New Mexico, and Lawrence Livermore in California — suspend their normal classified operations and draw up new security plans. Operations would then recommence with the new procedures in place to prevent any possible transfer of classified computer files or other data onto non-classified computer systems.

The laboratories’ computer systems remained shut down early this week as they awaited word from the department that security measures had been sufficiently enhanced. According to a spokesman for Los Alamos, the laboratories have now submitted their plans. These focus on isolating the separate networks of computers that handle classified and non-classified work. There are concerns that it is too easy to transfer files from the classified network to the unclassified one, creating the potential for classified data to be leaked by e-mail.

The energy department has previously ordered stand-downs in response to safety or environmental problems, most recently at Los Alamos and at Brookhaven laboratory in New York state. Although irritating for staff, they are intended to convince critics that a given problem — security, in this case — is being taken seriously.

Ernie Moniz, under-secretary for energy, says he is confident that morale at the laboratories will be restored when the security clampdown is over. “There is a lot of uncertainty at the labs,” he admits, adding that things will improve when the new security arrangements are implemented.

Moniz does not believe that the turmoil at the laboratories will hamper recruitment plans. He concedes that the proposed introduction of routine polygraph testing “is probably the most sensitive issue”, but says it will be targeted at people with access to certain types of sensitive information.

Asked whether the department has any data to support the usefulness of polygraph testing, Moniz says: “The FBI thinks it is an important tool for its investigations.”

Moniz hopes to persuade people in Washington that the laboratories already have stringent security systems. “We need to get out the message of how our security systems actually work, and that we have appropriately graded security structures. People who haven't been to the laboratories sometimes think they operate like university campuses.”