3 Labs Halt Use of Classified Computers

Security concerns and fear of espionage have forced the Energy Department to suspend the use of classified computers at three of the nation’s top research labs. The shutdown affects the Los Alamos National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, a spokesman said. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson ordered the shutdown as part of an overall initiative to improve security. Security checks have escalated at Los Alamos since reports surfaced last year that a lab employee might have committed espionage in the 1980s.