6/8. Attorney General Eric Holder released a statement regarding federal investigation of the unauthorized release of information regarding US cyber warfare operations against Iran and other leaks.

He wrote that "Today, I assigned U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Ronald C. Machen Jr. and U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein to lead criminal investigations into recent instances of possible unauthorized disclosures of classified information."

Holder (at left) did not disclose what leaks will be the subject of these investigations. However, recently information was disclosed to the New York Times (NYT) regarding US cyber warfare operations against Iran. Other leaks have disclosed information about the use of drones in Yemen and adjacent Africa, and hit lists of terrorists.

The cyber warfare leaks at issue resulted in the publication in the NYT of a story by David Sanger on June 1, 2012, titled "Obama Order Sped Up Wave of Cyberattacks Against Iran". See also, story titled "Members of Congress Condemn Leaks of Information About US Cyber Attacks on Iran" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,391, June 6, 2012.

Holder added that the Machen and Rosenstein "will be directing separate investigations currently being conducted by the FBI".

Holder did not specify whether the two will conduct overlapping and redundant investigations, or whether there will be a division of responsibilities. For example, one may have been tasked with investigating the federal officials who may have disclosed the information, while the other is tasked with investigating those to whom the information was leaked. Alternatively, Machen could have primary responsibility, and Rosenstein responsibility for those portions of the investigation from which Machen and Department of Justice's (DOJ) main office recuse themselves.

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) stated in a release on June 8 that "I agree with the Attorney General. He and I discussed this today and I am pleased he has picked strong, capable, independent prosecutors for the investigation. The Department’s consultation with the Judiciary and Intelligence Committees aids congressional oversight."

Also, President Obama held a news conference on Friday, June 8. He was asked about "reports of cyber-attacks on the Iranian nuclear program that you ordered". The questions were "First of all, what's your reaction of this information getting out in public? And secondly, what’s your reaction to lawmakers who accuse your team of leaking these details in order to promote your reelection bid?"

The President responded that "the issues that you have mentioned" are "classified". He also said that "we will conduct thorough investigations".

He also asserted that "the writers of these articles have all stated unequivocally that they didn't come from this White House". See, transcript.

The most likely objects of these investigations are senior Obama administration officials, officials at the agencies involved, contractors who assisted, and perhaps NYT employees.

It is not in the interests of senior members of the Obama administration to prosecute or embarrass any of these people, or even to cause them to incur burdensome legal defense costs.

Holder's action suggests that he does not seek productive investigations. First, he has not given anyone independent counsel status. Machen and Rosenstein remain under the control of the DOJ, and Holder, a partisan Democrat, and Obama loyalist.

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) argued for the appointment of an independent counsel. He stated in a June 6 release that "What is grossly irresponsible is the deliberate leaking and discussion of covert and highly classified programs to launch cyber attacks against Iran’s illicit nuclear program by, according to The New York Times, ‘participants in the program,’ ‘aides’ to the President, ‘members of the President’s national security team ..."

Sen. McCain (at right) continued that "Laws have apparently been broken. For this reason, yesterday I called for the appointment of a special counsel to investigate and, where appropriate, prosecute those responsible for these damaging leaks of military and intelligence secrets."

Second, one of the possible sources of the leaks is persons within the DOJ. Hence, Holder may be calling upon the DOJ to investigate the DOJ, thus creating a conflict of interest, and an incentive to fail.

Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI), Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee (HIC) stated at a news conference on June 8 that the DOJ's National Security Division (NSD) "has recused itself from at least one element of the investigation, suggesting some of these leaks could have come from the sources within the DOJ or the FBI." He added that "it appears that the sources of these leaks could be in a position to influence the investigations". Also, he said that "you should probably have someone outside the normal track of investigation on the particular leak case". See, transcript.

Third, neither Machen nor Rosenstein are the sort of prosecutors that an Attorney General would appoint if he sought an aggressive and successful investigation of senior government officials.

One of Holder's picks, Ronald Machen (at right), has been the U.S. Attorney (USA) for the District of Columbia since February of 2010. Before that, he was a partner in the Washington DC office of the law firm of Wilmer Hale.

Machen is a Democrat and a political appointee. Federal Election Commission (FEC) records show that he is an Obama contributor. Most recently, he made a $500 contribution on September 5, 2011. Like Holder, he is not only politically loyal to the Obama administration, he is also a revolving door lawyer. One of the reasons for lawyers taking short term senior positions in government is to enhance one's ability to more effectively represent clients' interests after leaving office. Investigating and prosecuting government officials detracts from this goal.

In short, Machen is not a likely candidate for conducting an investigation that would cause embarrassment to President Obama, his senior appointees, or other government officials.

Rod Rosenstein (at left), in contrast, is a career DOJ attorney. An online search of FEC individual contributor records for Rod Rosenstein for recent election cycles produces no results.

He has held numerous positions since joining the DOJ in 1990. Notably, he is a USA as a Republican appointee. Former President George Bush appointed him USA in 2005. He remains in this position with the support of Maryland's two Democratic Senators. Bush also nominated him to be a Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals (4thCir) in 2007. Senate Democrats successfully blocked his confirmation.

Rosenstein worked in the DOJ's Criminal Division's Public Integrity Section early in his career. This unit has vast resources, but brings few cases. When it does, it sometimes acts without integrity or competence.

He also worked with former Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr. Rosenstein also boasts in his USA bio that "he supervised the investigation that found no basis for criminal prosecution of White House officials who had obtained FBI background reports". That episode is better known a Filegate.

In that matter, a White House official of one political party requested secret FBI files on hundreds of key members of the other political party, without legal basis. The FBI turned over the files, without authority for doing so. Rosenstein began with the names of the people who both disclosed and received the files. However, after years of investigation, he could not spot a single violation of federal law. That matter, and the one to which he has just been assigned, are similar. Both involve the wrongful disclosure of confidential information by government officials. If he does not demonstrate improved legal skills, he is unlikely to be able to spot any wrongdoing in the recent leak of cyber warfare secrets.

6/8. The Chairmen and ranking members of the House Intelligence Committee (HCC) and Senate Intelligence Committee (SIC) held a news conference regarding recent leaks of national security secrets, including information about the US cyber attack on Iran's nuclear weapons development program. See, transcript.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Chairman of the SIC, said that "When people say they don't want to work with the United States because they can't trust us to keep a secret, that's serious. When allies become concerned, when an asset's life is in jeopardy or the asset's family's life is in jeopardy, that's a problem. The point of intelligence is to be able to know what might happen to protect this country. And we can't do that if the intelligence is no longer kept, with strict scrutiny, within the number of people that need to have it."

Sen. Feinstein also called for legislation. See, related story in this issue titled "Sen. Feinstein and Rep. Rogers Call for Legislation Following Cyber Warfare Leaks".

Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), ranking Republican on the SIC, stated that "all of us are extremely upset about the fact that not only have leaks occurred, but there's been just a cascade of leaks coming out of the intelligence community over the last several weeks and months. And it's our clear intention to put a stop to this in the best way that we can. Leaks are part of the nature of this town. We understand that. But the fact of the matter is, when you have the kind of leaks that have been coming out in the last few weeks, it put lives in danger and it infringes upon the ability of the intelligence community to do their job."

He also said that the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, is "extremely upset about this issue".

Sen. Chambliss also stated in the Senate on June 6 that "From kill lists to cyber warfare, it appears that nothing is off-limits, nothing is too secret, no opinion is too sensitive, and no source is too valuable to be used as a prop in this election-year posturing. And now the doctor who is associated with the Bin Laden operation appears to be paying the price for this posturing. Following public disclosures of his involvement, he's been sentenced to a true life sentence of 33 years in prison in Pakistan. This hardly provides incentive for anyone else to help us." See, transcript and video [YouTube].

Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD), the ranking Democrat on the HIC, stated that "It puts us at risk. It puts lives at risk. It hurts our ability with our allies to get -- have them work with us and get information. And it hurts us in recruiting assets that give us intelligence information that will allow us to protect our citizens, to work through issues that are so important to the whole issue of peace throughout the world and how we protect our citizens throughout the world."

Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI), Chairman of the HIC, stated that "To have all four of us come forward today and talk about the severity of these leaks, I hope, sends a very clear message about how dangerous this has become. And it's not just an isolated incident, and that's what has brought us together. It seems to be a pattern that is growing worse and more frequent."

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), is not a member of the SIC, and did not participate in this news conference. However, he is the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC). He stated in a release on June 8 that "What the President did not unequivocally say today is that none of the classified or highly sensitive information recently leaked to the media came from the White House. I continue to call on the President to immediately appoint a special counsel to fully investigate, and where necessary, prosecute these gravely serious breaches of our national security."

6/8. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) stated on June 8, 2012, at a news conference regarding recent disclosures of information regarding US cyber attacks on Iran's nuclear weapons development program that there is a need to pass legislation.

"We're doing a bill", said Sen. Feinstein. "We need to legislate." However, she did not elaborate. See, transcript.

Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI) spoke at the same news conference. He said this. "Two problems here. One is that we get to the bottom of what is a growing and serious problem and the nature of these leaks, and second, that we put together legislation quickly that moves to put -- give the tools to the intelligence community to prevent this from happening in the future."

One relevant, but outdated, statute, is codified at 18 U.S.C. § 798. It pertains to "Disclosure of classified information". This section is also sometimes referred to as the Espionage Act, or a section of the Espionage Act. This section criminalizes the disclosure of certain "classified information" in "any manner prejudicial to the safety or interest of the United States or for the benefit of any foreign government to the detriment of the United States".

It is limited mainly to cryptographic matters, communications intelligence systems, and protecting the secrecy of the activities of the National Security Agency (NSA). Other sections of Chapter 37 criminalize certain espionage activities directed at "information respecting the national defense", harboring persons who engage in such activities, photographing defense installations, and aerial photography of defense installations.

There is arguably a problem of under-inclusion of national security related information covered by Section 798.

There was an effort to enact legislation in the 111th Congress following the publication of large volumes of documents by Wikileaks. See for example, S 4004 [LOC | WW], the "Securing Human Intelligence and Enforcing Lawful Dissemination Act" or "SHIELD Act". See also, stories titled "Senators Introduce Bill to Amend Espionage Act to Reach WikiLeaks and Others" and "Commentary: Expansion of Espionage Law" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,174, December 10, 2010.

Neither that bill, nor the companion bill in the House, HR 6506 LOC | WW], was passed by either body, or by any committee.

However, reform of Section 798 is just one possible topic for legislation, and may not be what Sen. Feinstein and Rep. Rogers have in mind.

The Senate Intelligence Committee (SIC) and House Intelligence Committee (HCC) are currently working authorization bills for the intelligence agencies.

The House passed HR 5743 [LOC | WW], the "Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013", on May 31, 2012.

A year ago, when the House and Senate were considering a prior "Intelligence Authorization Act", a Senate bill included a section, which was not enacted into law, that would have given intelligence agencies broad powers to administratively punish employees who leak classified information. See, stories titled "Intelligence Authorization Bills Seek to Counter WikiLeaks" and "Commentary: Information Sharing and National Security Leaks" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,235, May 7, 2011.

It should also be noted, with respect to the classification of information, that some have argued that there is a problem of over-inclusion. That is, much information is classified, and remains classified, which in an open and democratic society ought to be made public.

6/8. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) dodged questions regarding Presidential authority to conduct cyber warfare at a news conference on June 8, 2012, regarding recent disclosures of information regarding US cyber attacks on Iran's nuclear weapons development program.

Sen. Feinstein, the Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee (SIC) participated in a news conference with her Republican counterpart, Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), and the Chairman and ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee (HCC), Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI) and Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD).

She was asked, "if the administration conducted cyberwarfare against Iran, that could constitute an act of war. Do you believe that Congress should be involved in oversight on this?"

Sen. Feinstein responded, "I'm not going to respond to that question." None of the other Senators present spoke up.

The Senators were also asked, "Do each of you agree with the use of drones, with the use of cyberwarfare?"

Sen. Feinstein responded, "I'm not going to answer that question here." None of the others responded.

The War Powers Resolution of 1973, which is codified at 50 U.S.C. §§ 1541-1548, purports to limit the "introduction of United States Armed Forces into hostilities" by the President. However, in the stuxnet program, computer code, not armed forces, were introduced into Iran.

With respect to Congressional oversight, neither Sen. Feinstein, nor the other Senators disclosed whether or not President Obama had disclosed details of the stuxnet program in a timely manner to the relevant oversight committees.

Nor did they address what committees have oversight jurisdiction over cyber warfare.

The House will not meet.

The Senate will meet at 2:00 PM. It will resume consideration of the motion to proceed to S 3240 [LOC | WW], a huge bill pertaining to agriculture. It also includes provisions related to rural telecommunications, broadband and telemedicine. See, story titled "Senate to Take Up Farm Bill with Rural Broadband and Telemedicine Provisions" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,391, June 6, 2012.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) National Coordination Office (NCO) for Networking and Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD) will host an event titled "National Symposium on Moving Target Research". The purpose of this symposium is to examine whether there is scientific evidence to show that moving target techniques are a substantial improvement in the defense of cyber systems. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 45, Wednesday, March 7, 2012, at Page 13656. Location: Historic Inns of Annapolis, Annapolis, MD.

Deadline to submit to the Department of Health and Human Services' (DHHS) Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONCHIT) nominations to its Health Information Technology Standards Committee (HITSC) and Health Information Technology Policy Committee (HITPC). See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 106, Friday, June 1, 2012, at Pages 32639-32640.

The House will meet at 10:00 AM.

9:00 AM. The Department of Commerce's (DOC) Bureau of Industry and Security's (BIS)Regulations and Procedures Technical Advisory Committee (RPTAC) will hold a partially closed meeting. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 103, Tuesday, May 29, 2012, at Pages 31567-31568. Location: DOC, Hoover Building, Room 3884, 14th Street between Constitution and Pennsylvania Avenues, NW.

10:00 AM. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) will hold a hearing titled "Oversight of the Department of Justice". The witness will be Attorney General Eric Holder. The SJC will webcast this event. See, notice. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.

12:00 NOON. The National Press Club (NPC) will host a class titled "Social Media Trends for Social Media Managers". See, notice. The price to attend ranges from $62.50 to $125. Location: Bloomberg Room, NPC, 13th Floor, 529 14th St. NW.

2:30 PM. The Senate Intelligence Committee (SIC) will hold a closed hearing titled "Intelligence Matters". See, notice. Location: Room 219, Hart Building.

5:00 PM. Deadline to submit speaker applications to the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) for the 2013 International CES to be held in Las Vegas, Nevada, on January 8-11, 2013. See, notice.

6:00 - 8:15 PM. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will host an event titled "The FCC in the Courts". Richard Welch, FCC Deputy Associate General Counsel, will give a presentation titled "How the Agency Fared Over the Last Year". Jacob Lewis, FCC Associate General Counsel, will give a presentation titled "FCC Litigation on the Horizon". CLE credits. See, notice. The Federal Communications Bar Association (FCBA) asserts that this is an FCBA event. Location: Bingham McCutchen, 2020 K St., NW.

10:30 AM - 12:00 NOON. The Heritage Foundation (HF) will host a panel discussion titled "Export Control Reform: What's Next?". The speakers will be Patricia Cooper (Satellite Industry Association), Remy Nathan (Aerospace Industry Association), William Reinsch ( National Foreign Trade Council), Baker Spring (HF), and Derek Scissors (HF). See, notice. Free. Open to the public. Location: HF, 214 Massachusetts Ave., NE.

10:30 AM. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will hold an event titled "Open Meeting". See, agenda. Location: FCC, Commission Meeting Room, Room TW-C305, 445 12th St., SW.

12:00 NOON - 1:30 PM. The DC Bar Association will host a presentation titled "Impact of AIA on The Choice Between Patent and Trade Secret Protection". The speakers will be Griffith Price and Jia Lu (both of Finnegan Henderson). The price to attend ranges from $89 to $129. Reporters are barred from attending most DC Bar events. No CLE credits. See, notice. For more information, call 202-626-3488. Location: Finnegan, 901 New York Ave., NW.

12:30 - 2:00 PM. The DC Bar Association's Media Law Committee will host a closed brown bag lunch meeting to discuss media and communications law developments. Free. No CLE credits. Reporters are barred from covering this event. For more information, contact the DC Bar at 202-626-3463 or Kurt Wimmer (Covington & Burling) at kwimmer at cov dot com or Jim McLaughlin at mclaughlinj at washpost dot com. See, notice. Location: Covington & Burling, 1201 Pennsylvania Ave., NW.

8:45 AM - 2:30 PM. The U.S. China Economic and Security Review Commission will hold a hearing titled "The Evolving U.S.-China Trade & Investment Relationship". See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 111, Friday, June 8, 2012, at Pages 34127-34128. Location: Room 2118, Rayburn Building.

10:00 AM. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) will hold an executive business meeting. The agenda includes consideration Brian Davis (to be a Judge of the USDC/MDFl). See, notice. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.

POSTPONED. 12:00 NOON - 2:00 PM. The DC Bar Association will host a presentation titled "Social Media: Legal Considerations For Corporate Counsel". The speakers will be Brent Kidwell (Jenner & Block), Paul Meyer (Towers Watson), Blair Vietmeyer (E*TRADE Financial Corporation), Michael Lowman (Jenner & Block). The price to attend ranges from free to $15. Reporters are barred from attending most DC Bar events. No CLE credits. See, notice. For more information, call 202-626-3488. Location: Jenner & Block, 1099 New York Ave., NW.

2:30 PM. The Senate Intelligence Committee (SIC) will hold a closed hearing titled "Intelligence Matters". See, notice. Location: Room 219, Hart Building.

6:00 - 8:15 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association (FCBA) will host an event titled "US and EU Privacy Regulation: An Overview". CLE credits. See, notice. Location: Mayer Brown, 1999 K St., NW.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) [85 pages in PDF] regarding the 800 MHz cellular service. The FCC proposes, among other things, to issue geographic area overlay licenses through competitive bidding in two stages. The FCC adopted and released this NPRM on February 15, 2012. It is FCC 12-20 in WT Docket No. 12-40. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 52, Friday, March 16, 2012, at Pages 15665-15681.

8:30 - 11:30 AM. The Technology Policy Institute (TPI) will host an event titled "The Future of Internet Economics". See, registration page. Location: 7th floor, Newseum, 555 Pennsylvania Ave., NW.

8:30 AM - 4:00 PM. The Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Consumer Advisory Committee will meet. The FCC will webcast this event. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 103, Tuesday, May 29, 2012, Pages 31611-31612. Location: FCC, Commission Meeting Room, 445 12th St., SW.

5:00 PM. Deadline to register to attend the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Privacy Office's June 20 event titled "Privacy Compliance Workshop". See, notice in the Federal Register (FR), Vol. 77, No. 102, Friday, May 25, 2012, at Page 31371.

Deadline to submit to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) oppositions to the petitions for reconsideration of the FCC's latest Low Power Radio Service order. The FCC adopted and released this Fourth Report and Order and Third Order on Reconsideration on March 19, 2012. It is FCC 12-29 in MB Docket No. 99-25. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 105, Thursday, May 31, 2012, at Page 32075. See also, petition of the Educational Media Foundation, petition of Hope Christian Church of Marlton and others, petition of Corner Media, and petition of Kyle Magrill. And see, story titled "FCC Releases Two Items Regarding Local Community Radio Act" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,351, March 20, 2012.

9:00 AM - 12:30 PM. The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) will host a conference titled "Buying and Selling at the Speed of Light: Taking Stock of High Frequency Trading". The speakers will include Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX). See, notice. Location: AEI, 12th floor, 1150 17th St., NW.

Deadline to submit comments to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) regarding the data reporting requirements associated with the NTIA's program to develop and maintain a inventory map of broadband service capability and availability in the US. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 74, Tuesday, April 17, 2012, at Pages 22762-22763.

Deadline to submit comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regarding the information collection requirements of its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Notice of Inquiry (NPRM and NOI) [84 pages in PDF] regarding use of MSS Spectrum for Terrestrial Broadband. The FCC adopted and released this item on March 21, 2012. It is FCC 12-32 in WT Docket No. 12-70, ET Docket No. 10-142, and WT Docket No. 04-356. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 74, Tuesday, April 17, 2012, at Pages 22720-22748. See also, story titled "FCC Adopts NPRM Regarding Use of MSS Spectrum for Terrestrial Broadband" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,353, March 22, 2012.

6/8. This articles offers the analysis, based upon the missions and operations of the Department of Energy (DOE), that it was well placed to provide much of the expertise to implement the US cyber attack upon the nuclear weapons program of Iran, also known as the stuxnet program.

Hence, while Republicans have advanced the idea that White House political aides leaked information to the New York Times (NYT) in a bid to boost President Obama's re-election chances in November, one might also consider the DOE as an alternative source of leaks.

Also, if the Congress is to revise federal law prohibiting the disclosure of secret government information pertaining to national security, and if it is also ultimately revealed that the DOE or other government research agencies were involved in leaking cyber warfare information, then revision of law might specifically address maintaining secrecy at government research agencies.

This article relies upon information provided in the web sites of the DOE and its laboratories, and news articles published in the NYT regarding the stuxnet cyber warfare program. See, especially, story by David Sanger, dated June 1, 2012, and titled "Obama Order Sped Up Wave of Cyberattacks Against Iran", and story by William Broad, John Markoff and Sanger, dated January 15, 2011, and titled "Israeli Test on Worm Called Crucial in Iran Nuclear Delay".

First, the DOE includes the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), which is responsible for the US nuclear weapons program, US naval and non-military nuclear reactors, and nuclear non-proliferation. Hence, it is an agency with both missions and expertise related to sabotaging the nuclear weapons development programs of other countries.

Second, the DOE includes the Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence, a secretive unit that maintains no web site. It assesses the nuclear weapons programs of other countries, including Iran. It is one of the components of the US intelligence community.

Third, the DOE's Idaho National Laboratory (INL), which focuses on nuclear sciences, may have played a role in the stuxnet program. In particular, it possesses expertise regarding the computer controllers that manage industrial machinery. This includes nuclear weapons program equipment, including centrifuges, which are used for uranium enrichment for weapons. Stuxnet was intended to use controllers to cause Iran's centrifuges to malfunction.

Fourth, the DOE's Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) might also have played a role in the stuxnet program. Iran wants nuclear weapons. Uranium is used in nuclear weapons. However, uraniuim exists in three isotopes. Less than one percent is U-235 -- such stuff as bombs are made of. The trick is separating the U-235 from the rest. The method used by Iran is high speed centrifuges. Centrifuges separate gaseous or liquid content by weight. For uranium isotopes, this is a difficult process, because uranium isotopes have nearly the same weight. Iran uses technology obtained from Pakistan, which has developed nuclear weapons. Libya also acquired the same technology, but abandoned its nuclear weapons program a decade ago. The US acquired centrifuges from Libya. They are at the ORNL in the state of Tennessee. Hence, it is possible that the DOE might have tested stuxnet at the ORNL.

Fifth, the DOE is an agency with expertise in materials, including metals, alloys and composites. For example, US nuclear programs use materials. As another example, the DOE is tasked with reducing US consumption of carbon fuels. One way is to develop and incorporate lighter materials in the construction of cars, trucks, aircraft, and other vehicles. The DOE has expertise in developing and testing materials that do not break during intended use. This leads to spill over expertise in how to cause materials to fail. And, causing materials in centrifuges to fail was a goal of the stuxnet program.

Finally, it should be noted that much of the federal computer science research is conducted by the DOE, including at the Argonne National Laboratory (ANL).

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