Lockheed Admits Security ‘Lapse’ on Secret Data

WASHINGTON —  Lockheed Corp. has acknowledged an “inexcusable” and “unacceptable” lapse in security at a California plant, after a General Accounting Office investigation revealed that 1,460 classified documents relating to a top-secret Air Force program were missing or improperly accounted for.

Congressional sources said the missing documents concern the Air Force’s “stealth” F-19 fighter jet, a project so sensitive that the Pentagon has never acknowledged that it exists.

In written testimony prepared for presentation to a House subcommittee today, Lockheed Chairman Lawrence O. Kitchen says there is no evidence of an actual compromise of secret material at the plant. However, Kitchen acknowledges for the first time that Lockheed failed to maintain proper controls over secret documents and prepared “improper” audit forms in an attempt to account for documents that were missing.

“Our internal laxness . . . is inexcusable,” Kitchen says in his statement for the House subcommittee on oversight and investigations. “As to secret material, it is clear that administrative controls were not properly enforced.”

‘Black’ Programs

Kitchen’s testimony comes amid controversy about the Pentagon’s monitoring of so-called “black,” or highly secret, programs, which have grown dramatically during the Reagan Administration. The Air Force’s F-19 stealth fighter jet, which is designed to evade enemy radar, is considered one of the largest and most sensitive of the black programs.

Government Accounting Office officials Wednesday said that during a recent investigation, they identified hundreds of secret and top-secret documents at Lockheed’s Burbank, Calif., plant that could not be located by company officials. Also, hundreds of other “discrepancies” were discovered, in which documents were not properly audited or their location could not be established for some period of time, officials said.