Posted on 07/17/2004 5:03:27 PM PDT by mastercylinder
Los Alamos National Laboratory director Pete Nanos shut down the country's leading nuclear weapons lab on Friday, after a set of classified computer disks disappeared and a student was hit in the eye with a powerful laser beam -- all in the space of a week.
"As of today, director Nanos has suspended all operations at the laboratory," an internal e-mail obtained by Wired News read. "This is a very serious step."
"This willful flouting of the rules must stop, and I don't care how many people I have to fire to make it stop. If you think the rules are silly, if you think compliance is a joke, please resign now and save me the trouble," Nanos added in a separate e-mail to Los Alamos employees.
It's a nearly unprecedented move, lab watchers said. The only other time in recent memory that the entire facility was shut down was in 2000, when the Cerro Grande forest fire tore through Bandelier National Monument, on Los Alamos' border. The suspension couldn't come at a more delicate moment. The lab is under fire for losing track of its classified material three times in the last eight months. One of Los Alamos' chief overseers in Congress, House Energy and Commerce Committee chairman Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), is due at the lab on Monday for security inspections.
After entrusting the University of California to run the lab for more than 60 years, the Energy Department has opened the Los Alamos contract for bidding when it expires next year. The latest incidents won't help UC if it decides to bid.
On Thursday, Nanos suspended all classified work at Los Alamos, after officials there lost track of a pair of Zip disks and two external hard drives containing classified information. Nanos ordered a rechecking of all classified inventories throughout the nuclear weapons complex, and a retraining of all personnel on how to handle secrets properly. Kevin Roark, a lab spokesman, said this "open-ended" review period could keep the classified parts of the lab shut down for as long as a week.
Then on Friday, the lab admitted that a 20-year-old intern was hit in the eye with a laser beam, causing retinal damage and hemorrhaging. According to lab spokesman James Fallin, the accident occurred in the lab's advanced chemical diagnostic and instruments group, where the intern and others were running experiments with a powerful class 4 laser on Wednesday afternoon.
The accident led to a second order, to suspend all activities at the lab. A few "essential activities essential to national security will be maintained," Fallin said. But that is all.
According to a congressional source, the intern's supervisor has been put on administrative leave, as has the group's leader.
For Nanos, this was the last straw.
"In no case will I authorize a restart until I'm absolutely convinced that each organization will not risk further compromise of safety, security and environment," Nanos said in the e-mail.
"Despite all that's been happening, there's still this cavalier attitude at the lab," said Danielle Brian, executive director of the watchdog group Project on Government Oversight. "Nanos said, 'These guys aren't taking security or safety seriously. I'm shutting this place down until they do.'"
It's great. That lab has been a bleeding wound in our national security for over a decade, at least. Any real research will go to other facilities that are more competently run.
On the contrary: yeah the incidents are bad, but it's about damn time they cracked the whip. Let's hope he's serious.
Its VERY good.
"These guys aren't taking security or safety seriously. I'm shutting this place down until they do.'"
Just yesterday I posted that after 3 breaches, Los Alamos need to be shut down. Woot! Maybe he reads FR :)
Serioulsy, they need to get their act together. Thank God someone had the cajones to play hardball.
It's about time!
With Los Alamos closed to Americans, inquiring minds want to know:
Does PRC operatives still get access with their DNC paid-passes?
Spoken like an adult! FINALLY!!!!
That place has been an embarressment. It's good to know that a grown-up has finally decided to take charge.
this would be the perfect time (politically) to blow the lid off the whole Los Alamos - DNC - Clinton connection.
Having the communists in charge isn't such a good idea.
...and a student was hit in the eye with a powerful laser beam...
Do you really think so? I don't think so. I think that's a terribly unprofessional email to send out. He shouldn't warn and threaten them -- just get the job done. But that's just me.
And that would be....?
"that" refers to what exactly?
What lab?
Any lab that the Peoples' Army doesn't have firsthand experience inspecting will do.
"As of today, director Nanos has suspended all operations at the laboratory,"
It's a start...it's a GREAT start...and I totally agree with the poster who said NOW would be a great time to expose the Clinton's abuse in this matter.
What a flustercluck is this.
Thanks for the information.
They contract some college to manage it, and most colleges are commie cesspools nowadays. There's a clue here, screaming for attention.
BTTT
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