DOE May Stem Flow Of Information
Will the recent disclosure that Department of Energy labs have been allowing foreign countries to obtain sensitive information on nuclear weapons lead to a crackdown on scientific access? Researchers are concerned that the findings of a General Accounting Office investigation could hinder access to legitimate material requested under freedom-of-information laws. The June GAO report, which was commissioned by the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, reported that in 1987 the Los Alamos, Lawrence Livermore, and Sandia national labs approved nearly 300 requests from nations believed to have secret nuclear-weapons programs for information on subjects such as detonators, high explosives, and neutron generators. The report recommends that DOE “seek a legislative exemption from the Freedom Of Information Act” for unclassified data that could be of use to such “sensitive” countries. But David Albright senior staff scientist for the Federation of American Scientists, warns that such a move...
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