One of the biggest concerns in the post-cold war era has been nuclear proliferation, and more worrisome, the idea that terrorists could get their hands on a nuclear weapon. That's why the US tries its absolute hardest to keep its own nuclear secrets guarded and hidden from the general public, keeping the lid on Pandora's box. Which makes the recent discovery of classified nuclear weapons research information in a drug raid on a trailer park a bit unnerving.
Police said that material recovered during the search appeared to come from Los Alamos National Laboratory.
The lab, one of two US sites that carry out classified nuclear research, has a history of security breaches.
The owner of the mobile home which was raided is said to be a former employee of one of the lab's sub-contractors.
Police visited the mobile home park in response to reports of a domestic disturbance.
They then carried out a search of the mobile home and a man was arrested for possession of drug paraphernalia.
The authorities say they also discovered possibly classified information from the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
In a statement the police said during the course of the search, officers realised that some of the items seized appeared to belong to the cutting-edge centre for nuclear weapons research.
According to the head of the energy department's national nuclear security administration, investigators want to find out how the possible security breach could occur despite extraordinary efforts in the last three years to put strong security procedures in place at Los Alamos and other weapons facilities.
One would assume that after the Wen Ho Lee debacle in 1999, where classified nuclear weapons information from the same lab was discovered to be in the hands of the Chinese government (inicidentally Lee was exonerated of all relevant charges) that security would have been beefed up significantly. If this information does turn out to be the real deal then either it's being carelessly handled or Los Alamos is being infiltrated by spies. Neither situation would be a good thing - nuclear proliferation is already a big enough problem without allowing the spread of even more sophisticated weapons information into the world at large.
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Vestril
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