Free Republic

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A computer hacker got into the U.S. agency that guards the country's nuclear weapons stockpile and stole the personal records of at least 1,500 employees and contractors, a senior U.S. lawmaker said on Friday. The target of the hacker, the National Nuclear Safety Administration, is the latest agency to reveal that sensitive private information about government workers was stolen. The incident happened last September but top Energy Department officials were not told about it until this week, prompting the chairman of the House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee to demand the resignation of the head of...

Over the last several weeks, the mainstream media have been increasing their coverage of China and the potential threat it poses to the security of the United States -- with a particular attention being paid to the possibility of nuclear threats. It's good to know that the media are reporting this increasingly important issue, but my question is: Where have they been? Where were they, say, during the Clinton Administration when not only were our nuclear secrets being stolen, but our technology was being given away to the Communist Chinese? The potential nuclear threats against the U.S. from China and...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., Feb. 13 /U.S. Newswire/ -- A Defense Support Program (DSP) satellite, scheduled to be launched on Saturday, Feb. 14, from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Station, will include sophisticated nuclear test detection sensors from the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). NNSA's advanced nuclear detonation detection payload, a primary detection system for nuclear explosions in the upper atmosphere and space, will be the satellite's secondary payload. These space-based sensors, developed by NNSA's Office of Nonproliferation Research and Engineering, are used to monitor the Limited Test Ban Treaty of 1963, and to deter proliferant nations from conducting nuclear tests. NNSA...

<p>A surprise delay this week in the Bush administration's planning for a factory to produce plutonium cores for nuclear warheads -- and a blistering letter from two key congressmen criticizing the head of the weapons program -- suggest that the White House's efforts to refurbish the nuclear weapons stockpile may have suddenly hit a speed bump.</p>

LAS VEGAS (AP) - Government scientists conducted an underground nuclear materials experiment Friday at the Nevada Test Site, the National Nuclear Security Administration said. The subcritical experiment, dubbed Piano, involved detonating high explosives to chart the behavior of plutonium in a non-nuclear explosion. It did not trigger a self-sustaining nuclear reaction, NNSA spokesman Kevin Rohrer said. Scientists from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California completed the test at 1:44 p.m. in a cavern 960 feet below ground, Rohrer said. No abnormalities and no surface damage were reported at the vast site, about 85 miles northwest of Las Vegas....