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 For Immediate Release
Contact: Eric Miller or Danielle Brian at (202) 347-1122 or email defense@pogo.org or
An investigation by the Department of Energy's Inspector General released Thursday concluded that actions by management officials at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) obscured "serious property and procurement management problems" and "weakened or overrode relevant internal controls." To view the report click here.
The IG investigation supported the allegations made by two LANL investigators, Glenn Walp and Steve Doran, about the total collapse of LANL management.
Some of the highlights of the IG report:
- When the DOE's Washington D.C. independent oversight office visited LANL in December 2002, LANL's chief information officer gave Lab employees written guidance ranging from "Resist the temptation to spill your guts" to "Finger pointing will just make the program look bad."
- LANL internal auditors were required to sign a loyalty oath to the lab contractor (the University of California), LANL, and the audits and assessment office.
- The firings of investigators Walp and Doran were "incomprehensible."
- In December 2002, when DOE was fully aware of problems at the lab, it evaluated LANL management as "excellent."
However, the report stopped short of addressing some of the well-documented criminal allegations brought to POGO.
"While the report confirmed what POGO already knew about widespread management problems at the lab, we were shocked that the IG's findings apparently ignored evidence that LANL management deliberately hid potential criminal activity at the lab," said Danielle Brian, POGO's Executive Director.
"This report is only the tip of the iceberg and clearly should be the final nail in the coffin of this contract."
The report did not resolve several disturbing allegations, including approximately 400 stolen or lost computers that could contain sensitive or classified information and a missing hard drive.
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