The FBI is investigating a worker from the Los Alamos National Laboratory as the possible source of classified information from the nuclear-weapons facility discovered during the arrest of a New Mexico man on drug charges. Jessica Quintana was questioned after Los Alamos police found classified nuclear data on three USB flash drives during a search of the trailer she shares with another man who was being investigated for drug charges.
The information is believed to be classified as Secret Restricted Data which indicates it involves nuclear weapons data and may have concerned detection of underground nuclear weapons testing. Some reports are claiming that Jessica Quintana worked either in Technical Area 55 where all of the Lab’s plutonium is stored or in the X Division which handles nuclear weapons design data for a maintenance subcontractor of the Lab.
Flash drives have been banned from the Los Alamos laboratory for the past two years, yet one must wonder how this policy is actually being enforced.
In 2004 two computer disks containing confidential data went missing and one year later Los Alamos claims the disks never existed. In 1998 Wen Ho Lee was accused of stealing nuclear secrets for China, only to have the 59 counts dropped, yet Mr. Lee confessed to improper handling of restricted data.
