Cover-up Suspected
This has fueled suspicions of a cover-up. Two Energy Department
reports, published earlier this year, identified similar problems at
another New Mexico laboratory and more broadly throughout Energy's
nationwide laboratory complex. But Los Alamos' alleged abuses far
exceed anything reported in the complex thus far. At most federal
agencies, abuses of this type are sufficient grounds for dismissal or
the loss of national security clearances required for employment at the
Energy Department. Los Alamos has placed several employees on paid
"investigative leave" and says that it has terminated one "contract
employee."
Walp, the lab's former head of the Office of Security
Inquiries, was fired in retaliation for documenting the national
security breaches.
Mr. Walp's settlement with the University of California, which
manages Los Alamos, includes a $900,000 outright payment and three and
a half months of salary. In January 2003, the university reinstated
Walp and Doran to advise UC's president on oversight of its reform
efforts at the lab.
Glenn Walp News :The
lab and its University of California manager issued a press release
claiming that the dollar amounts listed in the internal memos released
to the public overstate the value of the property missing, lost, or
stolen. The lab prefers to total only the "depreciated value" of the
missing property not the original acquisition costs to the taxpayer.
Instead of losing over a million dollars worth of goods in 2001, for
example, the labs say the depreciated value is only about $160,000.
Further, the lab director, John C. Browne, complained that many of the
losses were due to mix-ups in the lab's accounting system.
Ironically,
in July Busboom had written in Walp's performance appraisal that he had
the "potential and aspirations to have a positive and lasting impact on
the laboratory-very effective performer." Too effective, apparently,
for his own good-at least at Los Alamos.
The documents also depict program managers complaining of
disruptions and delays in critical lab national security projects as a
result of the theft of lab property. The new scandal is another blow to
Los Alamos' credibility as a responsible steward of the nation's
nuclear secrets.
CBS News' Sharyl Attkisson, Bill O'Reilly of Fox News, a Los
Angeles Times editorial, and Adam Rankin of the Albuquerque Journal
have covered the story. But it deserves far more attention because of
its national security implications. Lab and University of California
officials have limited their public comments, and have denied that
classified information was compromised. Los Alamos spokesperson Linn
Tytler did put a happy face on the scandal by telling local reporters
that the lab had accounted for all but about $100,000 of property in
2001. The laboratory claimed it earned an "outstanding" rating for its
property inventory for the year, a claim subsequently repeated by the
lab's director. But an internal memo put the actual 2001 loss at $1.3
million, or ten times higher than Tytler's claim.
In a case reminiscent of Walp and Doran's, investigators at
Sandia National Laboratories were told they were "on thin ice" after
their inquiries into security breaches went too far.
"It's a problem not just at Los Alamos, but at all of the sister
labs," Gwilliam continued. "There's a barricade mentality -- 'We're the
best and the brightest, leave us the hell alone.'"
Contact Glenn Walp :The
name of Wen Ho Lee, a former Los Alamos nuclear weapons scientist who
was suspected of stealing top-secret nuclear weapons information for
China, is on one list with two "unlocated" printers valued at about
$1,900. A listing doesn't necessarily imply any criminal activity but
is a matter that has to be resolved by experienced investigators, some
of whom have already been fired for trying to uncover the facts. Lee
pleaded guilty to one count of copying classified information on
computer tapes.
Glenn Walp Bio
Doran said Busboom told him in September that his "career would end" if
he damaged the University of California's "relationship with the FBI,
inspector general or U.S. attorney."
A few weeks later, Busboom ordered Walp and Doran off an important
fraud case, and told them to sever their relationship with the FBI.
When Doran and Walp told investigators from the Energy Department's
inspector general's office about all this in November, the pair was
fired, just about on the spot.
Contact Glenn Walp
Ironically, in July Busboom had written in Walp's performance appraisal
that he had the "potential and aspirations to have a positive and
lasting impact on the laboratory-very effective performer." Too
effective, apparently, for his own good-at least at Los Alamos.
The documents also depict program managers complaining of
disruptions and delays in critical lab national security projects as a
result of the theft of lab property. The new scandal is another blow to
Los Alamos' credibility as a responsible steward of the nation's
nuclear secrets.
CBS News' Sharyl Attkisson, Bill O'Reilly of Fox News, a Los
Angeles Times editorial, and Adam Rankin of the Albuquerque Journal
have covered the story. But it deserves far more attention because of
its national security implications. Lab and University of California
officials have limited their public comments, and have denied that
classified information was compromised. Los Alamos spokesperson Linn
Tytler did put a happy face on the scandal by telling local reporters
that the lab had accounted for all but about $100,000 of property in
2001. The laboratory claimed it earned an "outstanding" rating for its
property inventory for the year, a claim subsequently repeated by the
lab's director. But an internal memo put the actual 2001 loss at $1.3
million, or ten times higher than Tytler's claim.
More results:
Glenn Walp Profile Glenn Walp Services Glenn Walp Website
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