Office of Inspector General finds no proof that NNSA published sensitive data

The Office of Inspector General did not find that the National Nuclear Security Administration failed to follow export control regulations, despite complaints to that effect, according to a recent report.

The report, published Aug. 7, said the Office of Inspector General (OIG) received a complaint through a hotline alleging the DOE’s semi-autonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), the agency in charge of the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile, was publishing research to the public domain, a potential violation of export controls.

Export controlled information, according to the report, is information, technology, technical data or software that must be controlled under either trade or economic sanctions or regulations due to its sensitivity. Publicly publishing export controlled information would violate the International Traffic in Arms Regulations and DOE criteria.

In reviewing three research publications from Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and one from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, the OIG “did not substantiate” this allegation.

“We found that Los Alamos National Laboratory’s three publications were published in accordance with an exemption within the International Traffic in Arms Regulations,” the report said. “We also found that the article from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory was not identified as export controlled.

However, the report also added that while “the use of this exemption for review and approval may be allowable, according to NNSA officials it may not be the best process to approve publication of NNSA research to the public domain.” The Office recommended both labs and their respective contracting officers work with NNSA’s Office of Nuclear Export Controls’ Export Compliance Assistance Program and request an official advisory opinion, and to implement any guidance resulting from the opinion.