LANL: The Corporate Story

[Yeah, that's the ticket: Let's give LANS another 6 months to cover up their culpability with respect to LANL's current security, safety, and ethical "issues". Who still thinks Bingaman, Udall, and 'St. Pete' are our friends?

Or, as one comment puts it: "I guess it is ethical to slow down an investigation but not to speed one up. "

-Pat, The Dog

PS: I meant to put the quotes around the saint part -- "St." Pete. Sorry.]

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By ASSOCIATED PRESS
March 7, 2007

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. (AP) - New Mexico's two U.S. senators and the congressman whose district includes Los Alamos National Laboratory have asked the Government Accountability Office to delay for six months its probe into security problems at the lab.

Sens. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., and Pete Domenici, R-N.M., and Rep. Tom Udall, D-N.M., argued that the delay would give the lab's new manager, Los Alamos National Security, more time to implement operational and security reforms.

Reps. John Dingell, D-Mich., and Joe Barton, R-Texas, asked the GAO for the investigation last month _ including whether any lab operations could be moved elsewhere.

"We believe a six-month delay will provide a better baseline on which we can judge the progress that has actually been made in improving the operation of the laboratory," the New Mexico delegation, joined by Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., wrote Dingell and Barton on Tuesday. "Like you, we are interested in seeing significant and verifiable improvements in the area of safety and security."

The letter said the new management team, which took over in June, is working to increase security and reduce the potential for theft of classified material. However, they said, the reforms will take time.