Top Washington officials are investigating whether the
University of California is fit to continue managing Los Alamos
National Laboratory.
Accusations of improper spending, fraud and coverups could put
an end to the 60 years the UC has managed the nuclear weapons lab
for the U.S. Department of Energy.
“These problems have called into question the University
of California’s ability to run the Los Alamos National
Laboratory,” U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said in a
letter to UC President Richard Atkinson last month.
Los Alamos director John Browne resigned last week and the
lab’s two top security officials were reassigned to other
posts Wednesday.
Bruce Darling, vice president of university affairs, was named
interim vice president of UC laboratory management Wednesday.
John McTague announced his resignation from the post a week
before Department of Energy investigators arrived at Los Alamos in
November 2002.
“These changes reflect the university’s deep concern
about the allegations that have been made about Los Alamos business
practices,” Atkinson said in a statement.
Secretary Abraham told Atkinson the university would be held
responsible for the controversy at Los Alamos, and a subsequent
letter suggested that the UC’s contract could be
cancelled.
Two former Los Alamos investigators, Glenn Walp and Steve Doran,
claim they were fired by the lab after telling superiors about
missing equipment and fraudulent charge card purchases.
Abraham said their firing and the lack of a subsequent
investigation “reflect(s) a systematic management failure,
one for which the laboratory management must be held
accountable.”
UC spokesman Michael Reese said the university was not surprised
by Abraham’s letter, because Abraham had expressed similar
feelings to Atkinson beforehand.
“We have every expectation the steps we have taken will
address (Abraham’s) concerns,” Reese said.
But the UC will have to satisfy Congress as well.
Multiple congressional committees, including the House Committee
on Energy and Commerce, are currently holding their own
investigations regarding Los Alamos.
The committee has requested and received a series of documents
from the UC regarding lost and missing items, improper purchases,
and the hiring and firing of certain employees.
“We are extremely troubled … by the apparent failure of
the University of California and LANL to sufficiently address these
issues over the past several years,” committee leaders said
in a letter to Atkinson.
The investigation will continue despite the reorganization of
lab management, according to a statement from Committee Chair Billy
Tauzin, R-La.
Formal hearings are expected, but they have yet to be
scheduled.
Walp and Doran are expected to testify before Congress at these
hearings, which could determine the fate of the UC contract.
Congress can recommend that the Bush administration should
cancel the UC contract but cannot make that decision on its
own.
Reese said that the main issue should be whether the
university’s management of the labs is good for the nation,
not whether or not it is good for the UC.
“We don’t get anything out of this,” Reese
said. “We do this as a public service.”
He then said the UC’s 60 years of experience in running
the lab shows the UC contract is good for national security.
But many politicians seem to lack this optimism, and their
decision about the UC contract will be known as investigations
develop.
“It is crucial that we restore public confidence in the
management of the laboratory,” Abraham said.