Posted on 05/06/2010 8:49:34 AM PDT by angcat
A Drums native was hired to investigate crime and lapsed security at a national laboratory that provides the country's strongest defense against enemy nations.
What Glenn Walp uncovered at the Los Alamos National Laboratory is shocking. Millions of dollars in thefts. Corruption. Cover-ups. Major breaches in security.
But most alarming, he writes in his new non-fiction book, is knowing that some of the computers stolen from the facility in Los Alamos, N.M., may have contained U.S. nuclear weapons secrets.
Walp, former Pennsylvania State Police commissioner, penned "Implosion at Los Alamos: How Crime, Corruption and Cover-Ups Jeopardize America's Nuclear Weapons Secrets." It's an account of his investigation at the laboratory where the primary responsibility is the security of the nation's nuclear deterrent.
"We're not talking about producing jars of peaches, or holding a secret recipe for sauce. We're talking about having control over the world and all of mankind," Walp said, referring to confidential information held at the laboratory.
Walp, who now lives in Gold Canyon, Ariz., is kicking off a promotional tour for the book, and will sign copies Wednesday at the West Hazleton Borough Community Center, 100 S. Fourth St., West Hazleton, and May 14 at Christ Lutheran Church, 467 Main St., Conyngham. Both events will be held from 6 to 8 p.m.
"I love where I live, but there's nothing like home," Walp said of his upcoming visit.
A graduate of West Hazleton High School, Walp landed a job at a pharmaceutical company in Lansdale before joining the Pennsylvania State Police. When he retired in the 1990s after almost 30 years of service to the force, he was one of only two individuals to have held every state police rank.
Following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Walp wanted to do something to help the country and applied for the position of leader of office securities at the laboratory.
Several key events led to his hiring in January 2002. In 1999, Los Alamos scientist Wen Ho Lee was accused of downloading nuclear secrets, and a few years later, two computer hard drives with classified data were reported missing and later found behind a photocopier.
Walp's job was to make sure similar incidents didn't happen again.
But in the post, he uncovered the theft and loss of more than $3 million in taxpayer property, including almost 400 computers that may have housed nuclear secrets.
"There was also a 1-ton magnet and an industrial water tank missing. There were just unbelievable things that disappeared," he said.
In the book, Walp proposes that because of the lab's failed security throughout the first decade of the 21st century, America and its allies are vulnerable to those who may now have possession of America's darkest nuclear weapons secrets.
According to the book, some lab officials were concerned that exposing news about the losses and other criminal acts would jeopardize a lucrative government contract, so they opposed Walp's efforts - even told him to stop.
"They told me I had to be careful because the lab is famous for sacrificing its own children for the sake of the lab," he claimed.
Despite the opposition, Walp and his partner, Steve Doran, pressed on - and exposed to the world the real and present danger to America's nuclear secrets. The efforts resulted in their firing. Walp would have the final say, however, when two lab leaders resigned after they were accused of improperly dismissing Walp and Doran.
His role as a whistleblower earned him appearances on several national television programs, including "The O'Reilly Factor" and CNN's "American Morning with Paula Zahn."
Walp's findings also led to scrutiny of Los Alamos and other similar facilities. According to Walp, a 2004 report from the U.S. Department of Energy, which oversees the labs, detailed the "alarming problem of security" at all national laboratories.
The book also discusses additional security breaches at the lab that occurred after Walp had left.
"These are documented problems," he said.
Walp's book tour begins in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, after which Walp said he'll "go right to my hometown."
While this is Walp's first book, he has published many academic works, including "Criminal Investigation Assessments" in the FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin. Walp, who has a doctorate in human services with a specialization in criminal justice, is a part-time adjunct professor and consultant for Penn State University's Justice and Safety Institute.
The book can be purchased by visiting www.implosionatlosalamos.com.
Lord help us PING~
It didn't start with Obama, although it is peaking.
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