The admission by the Energy Department that two allegedly "missing" secret computer disks never existed -- and the University of California's penalty of $5.8 million -- cap one of the biggest security shake-ups the U.S. nuclear weapons industry in post-World War II years that resulted in a temporary shutdown of all U.S. nuclear research facilities last year. . . .
Eventually, four were fired for security breaches , one chose to resign under the threat of termination and seven others received various formal reprimands.
Only by October were the scientists able to resume their full-scale work.
The confusion, it turns out, was created by inventory bar codes produced for computer disks that have never been written, a department official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Reportedly they did find some security holes, but at the cost of considerable disruption in what I assume is vital national security research.
