Oops! Feds 'Accidentally' Release 266-page Document Mapping Out U.S. Nuclear Sites

Posted by Liliana Segura, AlterNet at 8:00 AM on June 3, 2009.

From the Better than Fiction department: the New York Times reports that the U.S. government has "accidentally" released a list of nuclear sites around the country -- but don't worry, everything's fine.
"The federal government mistakenly made public a 266-page report, its pages marked 'highly confidential,' that gives detailed information about hundreds of the nation's civilian nuclear sites and programs, including maps showing the precise locations of stockpiles of fuel for nuclear weapons," the Times reported last night.
The document, which was disclosed earlier this week "in an online newsletter devoted to issues of federal secrecy," is described as containing "an exhaustive listing of the sites that make up the nation's civilian nuclear complex, which stretches coast to coast and includes nuclear reactors and highly confidential sites at weapon laboratories."

It was only last night, following inquiries from the Times, that the top secret document was taken down from the website of the Government Printing Office.
But don't worry, consensus among "nuclear experts" is apparently that "any dangers from the disclosure were minimal."
"These screw-ups happen," said one former director of central intelligence.
But others aren't convinced. Steven Aftergood, of the Federation of American Scientists, "expressed bafflement at its disclosure, calling it 'a one-stop shop for information on U.S. nuclear programs.'"
The New York Times has more.

Liliana Segura is a staff writer and editor of AlterNet's Rights and Liberties and War on Iraq Special Coverage.