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Article: Nuclear security.(Los Alamos National Laboratory)(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- June 17, 2000
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2000 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Cuckoo NEST
MORE than trees and houses have gone up in smoke at Los Alamos in the seven weeks since a forestry-service fire ran out of control and immolated a large tract of the surrounding area. The most recent casualty is, at a minimum, the reputation of America's most famous nuclear weapons laboratory for guarding its secrets, and at worst, a chink in the country's defences against nuclear attack.
Two computer hard-drives, carrying details of American and Russian nuclear weapons, as well as simpler devices that might be put together by less sophisticated engineers, are missing. The drives, each the size of a pack of cards, are part of the emergency ...