Holey Security

The events leading up to the FBI case began Oct. 17 when the Los Alamos Police Department responded to a domestic-disturbance call in the 2000 block of East Jemez Road in Los Alamos. During the call, police noticed glass pipes and other items indicating possible illegal drug activity.

Police obtained a search warrant for the mobile home and found three computer memory sticks, or jump drives, during the search.

Lab security was called because some items police found appeared to belong to the lab, and the FBI later took over the case. It executed a search warrant Oct. 20 but would not say whether it was for the mobile home. The warrant remains sealed.

During the search by Los Alamos police, 20-year-old Justin Stone was arrested on an unrelated warrant for a probation violation. He also was charged with one count of possession of drug paraphernalia, according to a criminal complaint.

Stone said Friday he knows nothing about the classified material. "I was basically at the wrong place at the wrong time. ... This whole thing is a real mess," he said in a telephone interview from jail.

"I don't know who to sell that kind of information to. I don't know who would be interested in that kind of stuff," said Stone, who said he'd been renting a room in the trailer from owner Jessica Quintana for about three weeks.

"I had no idea what was on those jump discs," said Stone, a high-school dropout who said he was addicted to methamphetamine and has used it since he was about 14.

Stone acknowledged one of the three USB flash drives was his. He said he got it in trade for $20 worth of meth from a man who had "no relationship to the lab whatsoever." Stone said the FBI told him the flash drive, which he had intended to store music on, contained pornography. He said he didn't know what was on the other two drives.

Quintana previously worked at Assets Information Management, a lab contractor based in Los Alamos, according to Linda Daly, director of the Los Alamos Family YMCA, where Quintana worked most recently.

Quintana's attorney said Friday that no charges have been filed against his client.

While heads should roll for the lax security, I doubt that any serious changes will be made relating to the securing of data at Los Alamos.

Technorati: national security, classified information, los alamos.