Inspection Report: IG-0674

Within the Department of Energy (DOE), the National Nuclear
OBJECTIVES Security Administration’s (NNSA’s) Office of Secure
Transportation (OST) is responsible for providing the safe and
secure transport of nuclear weapons, special nuclear materials, and
weapons components between DOE production facilities and
Department of Defense facilities via surface and air modes of
transportation. OST uses the Department’s Nevada Test Site
(NTS), which is located near Las Vegas, Nevada, for various
training and related exercises. The NNSA’s Nevada Site Office is
responsible for the management of the NTS.
The Office of Inspector General (OIG) received allegations from an
OST official related to the transport of handguns by OST-affiliated
personnel between Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Nevada, in
conjunction with a Joint Training Exercise involving OST that was
held at the NTS. One allegation involved two contractor employees
transporting privately owned and Government owned handguns on
board an NNSA flight from Albuquerque to Las Vegas in October
2003. We addressed this allegation in our report entitled
“Unauthorized Handguns on National Nuclear Security Administration
Aircraft” (DOE/IG-0654, July 2004).