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GAO: Agencies need better cooperation to prevent nuke site disclosures
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12/23/09 08:01 PM ET
A Government Accountability Office report released Wednesday concludes that the Energy Department, Nuclear Regulatory Commission and other agencies need better coordination to prevent accidental public disclosures of U.S. nuclear site information.
The report stems from a May incident in which the Government Printing Office published a 266-page document online that provided detailed information on U.S. civilian nuclear sites and activities.
The document’s accidental posting apparently didn’t hurt national security, according to officials from several agencies. But the document – a declaration prepared for the International Atomic Energy Agency – was nonetheless not meant for public consumption, GAO notes.
“Information in the draft declaration was limited to civilian nuclear activities, and most nuclear-related information was publicly available on agency Web sites or other publicly available documents,” GAO states.
“However, according to officials from all of the agencies responsible for compiling this information, the information consolidated in one document made it sensitive and, thus, it should never have been posted to GPO’s Web site,” the report adds.
The report stems from a May incident in which the Government Printing Office published a 266-page document online that provided detailed information on U.S. civilian nuclear sites and activities.
The document’s accidental posting apparently didn’t hurt national security, according to officials from several agencies. But the document – a declaration prepared for the International Atomic Energy Agency – was nonetheless not meant for public consumption, GAO notes.
“Information in the draft declaration was limited to civilian nuclear activities, and most nuclear-related information was publicly available on agency Web sites or other publicly available documents,” GAO states.
“However, according to officials from all of the agencies responsible for compiling this information, the information consolidated in one document made it sensitive and, thus, it should never have been posted to GPO’s Web site,” the report adds.
