California nuclear lab accused of severe systems failures putting national security at risk

A California laboratory tasked with protecting America’s nuclear arsenal is under fire after federal investigators uncovered alarming security failures that could have put some of the nation’s most sensitive secrets at risk.The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) slapped the operator of the Special Technologies Laboratory in Santa Barbara with a preliminary violation notice on Oct.16, revealing that classified information had been processed on computer systems that were not authorized to handle it, according to the Daily Mail. The troubling security lapses were serious enough for one violation to receive the Department of Energy‘s highest severity rating, a designation reserved for incidents involving actual harm or a significant potential threat to national security.The laboratory’s operator, Mission Support and Test Services, LLC (MSTS), now faces a proposed $196,350 fine over the failures.Federal officials have not revealed exactly what classified information was mishandled or whether any unauthorized individuals gained access to the sensitive material.But the potential implications are staggering for a facility whose mission includes safeguarding America’s nuclear stockpile and detecting foreign nuclear weapons programs.Classified government information must be processed on specially authorized systems equipped with strict safeguards to prevent sensitive material from falling into the wrong hands.Using unapproved systems can undermine those protections, potentially exposing national security secrets to unauthorized access.The Santa Barbara laboratory is a critical satellite facility of the Nevada National Security Sites, operating under the NNSA, the federal agency responsible for maintaining the safety, security and reliability of America’s nuclear weapons.Its scientists and engineers develop sophisticated technologies to monitor nuclear weapons, conduct advanced experiments and detect potentially dangerous nuclear activities overseas....