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  AS the conflict in Iraq unfolded this spring, the world watched in amazement at the accuracy of the latest generation of precision-guided missiles. These weapons allowed U.S. and allied air forces to operate unconstrained by the limits of daylight, and they came to “rule the night.” Now, the U.S. armed forces want to further extend this weapon capability by developing armament that will reduce collateral damage—that is, reduce destruction outside the radius of an intended target—while enhancing its destructive force on the target.To achieve this goal, explosives and composites experts at Lawrence Livermore are leading an effort under...

The Energy Department has ordered a full review of security at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory after discovering "unacceptable" security lapses. Federal officials ordered the review of the laboratory in Northern California on Friday after learning that the loss of an electronic access badge had gone unreported to senior managers for six weeks. The badge could help gain access to 3,000 offices at the facility, some containing classified nuclear information. The electronic badge was lost by a security officer on a routine shift in mid-April, and several days later, security officers discovered that a set of keys to the gates of...

Guards: Livermore Lab Not Terror-Ready Union Officials Cite Lack of Training By KIM-MAI CUTLER Contributing Writer Tuesday, May 27, 2003 The UC-run Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is not fit to effectively resist a terrorist attack, leaders of a security guard union at the lab said yesterday. With high attrition rates and inadequate training to handle radioactive materials, the lab's Special Response Team is ill-prepared to deal with the potential emergencies they are hired to combat, union Vice President Matthew Zipoli said in a statement. The team must be ready to respond to anything from the theft of radioactive materials...

A top U.S. nuclear weapons research laboratory that boasts some of the tightest security on Earth is reviewing security procedures after it lost a set of keys, the lab said on Wednesday. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory said in a statement posted on its Internet site that officials learned a set of keys was missing on April 17. The discovery came a week after retired FBI (news - web sites) agent William Cleveland Jr. resigned as the lab's head of counter intelligence. In response to a question, a lab spokesman said there was no connection between Cleveland's departure and the keys...

Ex-FBI Agent Resigns Post at Nuclear Weapons Lab Officials Examine Link to Spy Case One of two retired FBI agents linked to an emerging Chinese spy scandal yesterday resigned his post as a senior counterintelligence official at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, which stripped him of his security clearances and launched an investigation of his nine-year tenure. William Cleveland Jr., who has been head of security at the nuclear weapons research facility in Livermore, Calif., since retiring from the FBI in 1993, is referred to anonymously in FBI affidavits unsealed Wednesday in the espionage-related case that has resulted in the arrests...

The compromised system is known as the Nuclear Weapons Information Program (NWIP). It was mentioned publicly in a 1995 LLNL Website press release that described it as a series of upgrades to the lab's computer systems to make it easier for scientists to coordinate and share information. Insight is told that this was like revealing that there's a stealth fighter but concealing how it is built and what secrets are aboard. quot;This is one of the most classified projects on Earth given what its mission is,quot; says a well-placed source. In essence, say Insight sources, it is the single repository...