Saturday, July 21, 2012
GAO: Lab oversight still needed due to the Quintana scandal
Anonymously contributed:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GAO: Lab oversight still needed due to the Quintana scandal
The nonpartisan Government Accountability Office has also expressed reservations about changing the oversight mechanism at the weapons laboratories. While he declined to comment on the House legislation specifically, Eugene Aloise, GAO natural resources and environment director, told GSN that limiting the Energy Department’s ability to conduct independent oversight of the NNSA sites “just doesn’t make sense.”
Between 2000 and 2007 there were more 50 security violations at the facilities, “35 of which severely impacted our national security,” Aloise said, referring to a period that included a 2006 incident in which a Los Alamos employee removed more than 1,000 pages of classified documents from the facility, among other incidents (see GSN, July 16, 2007).
“Now things seem to be quiet,” Aloise said.
As it is, Aloise said he is concerned the Energy Department’s health and safety office is not independent enough to adequately oversee the NNSA laboratories, and suggested that a hypothetical third entity entirely separate from the department would be a better solution. Having the nuclear agency regulate itself would only make matters worse, he said.
http://www.nti.org/gsn/article/critics-look-administration-senate-quash-nnsa-reform-legislation/
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
7 comments:
I guess we'll just have to keep beating up on the totally de-moralized nuclear weapon labs with more Congressional inspired witch-hunt events until the good security stats turn back for the worse, huh?
Sure, the Quintana scandal was over 6 years ago but why not savor this historic event and begin some more beatings over it until the staff at these labs all confess for their hidden sins.
Let the next "Spanish Inquisition" at the NNSA labs to uncover the sordid "facts" begin!
DOE's HSS is clearly out of touch. NNSA is incompetent. Maybe a third entity makes sense.
It is still a mystery why the responsible managers were not fired over the Quintana scandal. When the Air Force 'temporarily' lost track of weapons a few years ago, the responsible managers were fired. Must be a different set of rules...
You cannot fire a woman manager at LANL. That is O'Leary's legacy.
Speaking of legacies, anyone see that Admiral Watkins died this week.
Let's dig up the sordid Wen Ho Lee event. It's too good to let events like that simply fade away.
Consider a 10th anniversary of remembrance and use it to begin punishing and crippling Los Alamos once again with renewed vigor! Congressmen just loves doing that type of thing.
Recent events could lead Congress to decide that not much has changed over the past decade, and the labs are in a worse state today than what they were when NNSA was created. The only common thread in this steep decline has been UC involvement, so it is time for them to leave. Time to either make the workers government employees like ina DoD lab, or let a company run it like a business without university managment. This half fish half fowl setup of today does no good for the country or the workers.
Post a Comment