DOE to fine weapons labs if data leaked : U.S. schedules hearings on proposed civil penalties

The Oakland Tribune ^ | Saturday, April 06, 2002 - 3:13:21 AM MST | Glenn Roberts Jr.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Energy Department officials plan two public hearings over policies designed to levy civil fines on nuclear weapons sites for secrets divulged by their employees.

An amendment to the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, approved in 1999 as part of a defense bill, created civil penalties of up to $100,000 per violation for the unauthorized release of "restricted data" or "formerly restricted data."

An April 1 announcement in the Federal Register, a daily publication for federal government rules and notices, states that hearings will be held May 22 and 29 on the proposed rules governing the civil penalties.

As proposed, "no civil penalties would be assessed against individual employees," though there could be "appropriate reduction in the fees or amounts paid to the contractor."

Several Energy Department sites are managed under contract by universities and private industry, for example, and those agencies could be held accountable for their employees' violations.

The original amendment calls for the penalty to apply to violations relating to "the safeguarding or security of restricted data or other classified or sensitive information."

But the proposed rules state that the civil penalties will apply only to violations involving classified information, because "there is no commonly accepted definition of 'sensitive information,'" and "Congress was concerned with unauthorized disclosures of classified information."

A list of seven agencies -- including the University of California, which manages Lawrence Livermore and Los Alamos nuclear weapons laboratories for the Energy Department -- would not be required to pay any civil penalties until a new management contract is signed or there is an extension of the current contract.

Also, the total amount of civil penalties assessed against the UC system and some other department contractors cannot exceed "the total amount of fees paid to that entity in that fiscal year," the proposed rules state.

A person accused of security violations would receive a written notice from the Energy Department containing information about alleged violations and providing information about the right to a hearing to respond to the alleged violations.

Employees can testify or present evidence through witnesses and documents at the hearing, can cross-examine witnesses and rebut evidence, and can be accompanied by a lawyer, the proposed rules state.

Members of the Society of Professional Scientists and Engineers, an employee rights advocacy group at Livermore Lab, said Friday they hadn't yet reviewed the proposed rules.

The first public hearing on the proposed rules will be on May 22 in Las Vegas, Nev., and the second is set for May 29 in Washington, D.C. Requests to speak at the Las Vegas hearing must be submitted before May 15, and at the Washington hearing before May 22.

Written comments to the proposed rules must be sent by July 1 to Geralyn Praskievicz, Office of Security, SO-1, Docket No. SO-RM-00-01, U.S. Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Ave. SW., Washington, DC 20585.

For information about the proposed rules and public hearings, dial Geralyn Praskievicz at (202) 586-4451 or Jo Ann Williams at (202) 586-6899.

[boris]

IMHO this is nuts. The person or persons who committed treason should be discovered, promptly tried, and sentenced to death. When was the last time we fried a traitor or spy...the Rosenbergs, wasn't it?

--Boris

[Robert_Paulson2]

We must be nearly finished and ready to deploy our neutron based nukes... OR we must have some really NEW high tech toys to be tested soon in a middle eastern country or several at once.... heh heh...

[dead culture watch]

Nothing will be done to individuals. This is being done merely to make people think somebody is paying. More than likely, us. Twice. The fines and having to deal with the aggresive brutal regime of communist China.

Ask yourself why the Loral space treason or any other irregularity that that treasonous company has engaged in, and continues to ingage in, (to the best of my knowledge) Has NOT been looked into? Oh sure, they have had closed grand jury proceedings, but that is just more window dressing. clintoon did the same shenanigans. New boss = old boss.

DCW