https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12473877/new-mexico-governor-ambassador-bill-richardson-brittney-griner.html
Ok maybe this is not as big as news as Jimmy Buffet but Bill Richardson was rather the controversial character in terms of NNSA and LANL.
Richardson had a troubled tenure as energy secretary because of a scandal over missing computer equipment with nuclear weapons secrets at Los Alamos National Laboratory and the government´s investigation and prosecution of former nuclear weapons scientist Wen Ho Lee.
Richardson approved Lee´s firing at Los Alamos in 1999. Lee spent nine months in solitary confinement, charged with 59 counts of mishandling sensitive information. Lee later pleaded guilty to one count of mishandling computer files and was released with the apology of a federal judge.
Rumor had it that Richardson leaked information on the WHL case to try to save himself. This partially jeopardized the case. The other rumors was that he was going to be Al Gores running mate but because of the LANL incident was out. He may have been able to swing the hispanic vote a bit in Florida.
12 comments:
There are lost of odd choices for the energy secretary but Bill Richardson was the oddest. He was doing some good work on getting some US prisoners returned so I will give him that.
"not as big as news as Jimmy Buffet but Bill Richardson"
I once got kicked out of a Margritaville, I had no idea it that it was theme restaurant and asked if they could stop playing Jimmy Buffett and put something good on. It was only after I was out of the front door that it dawned that Margritaville was Buffet song, hindsight is 20/20 I guess.
"The evil that men do lives after them the good is oft interred with their bones."
Bill Richardson did not seem like a popular person in Los Alamos.
For those that did not know Bill went after Sig Hecker but that backfired. My recollection was that everyone at UC and DOE knew that Bill was a big leaker in the WHL case and should have been the one punished. Bill hated LANL after that and even promoted Nanos. In the end Nanos got fired. Bill wanted to to protect Bill.
"Nonetheless, last month Richardson asked UC officials to punish the three Los Alamos personnel, saying that a classified report showed they had "failed to give necessary attention to counterintelligence and security" (Science, 20 August, p. 1193). Although Richardson didn't name names, DOE officials confirmed that the report fingered metallurgist Sigfried Hecker, who directed Los Alamos from 1986 to 1997 and still works there as a scientist; Robert Vrooman, a retired chief of counterintelligence who now works at the lab for an outside contractor; and Terry Craig, another former counterintelligence officer now employed in a different position at the lab. Whereas Hecker has not commented on the charges, Vrooman and Craig have denied culpability, saying Richardson should have pointed fingers at staff in DOE's Washington headquarters instead."
"
https://www.koat.com/article/los-alamos-shuts-down-richardson-highly-disappointed/5018187#
Lab director Pete Nanos said in a message to employees that the stoppage is necessary to meet the lab's national security obligations.
Gov. Bill Richardson and a former energy secretary blasted Los Alamos.
"This is a sad chapter in the Department of Energy and our labs, and it shows that things have not gotten better," Richardson said. "This is a very difficult problem, but there should be zero tolerance and director Nanos should fire some people."
"This is a very difficult problem, but there should be zero tolerance and director Nanos should fire some people."
Nanos was fired not long after that.
Sixty Minutes - August 1 1999: "Spy?" - Wen Ho Lee
Then DOE Secretary Bill Richardson was interviewed, and asked if other employees handling classified would be held to the same “standard…” as Wen Ho Lee
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=c_4e5axT3WY&pp=ygUVd2VuIGhvIGxlZSBsb3MgYWxhbW9z
(2021) Alberta Lee: The Wen Ho Lee Story: What Happened?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qwZjEpymFmU
The 60 mins thing is good. I do like the comment section about WHL, someone said.
Then why apologize to him and pay him 890k as compensation? Apparently he is not guilty, you just say this because you mad.
“Apparently he is not guilty, you just say this because you mad.”
Sorry, who is mad and about what please.
Sorry, who is mad and about what please.
9/05/2023 6:30 PM
This was from a post on the video.. on WHL Some other poster said he was guilty being a spy because...he was! The other poster pointed out he was not charged with that and even got 900k compensation. The implication is just because you are angry or have an emotion about something does make it true, it only means you have an emotion about something.
The same video also had Bill Richardson trying to make it look like it was everybody else's fault. What is clear is that Richardson had no idea of what the DOE did, what was done in Los Alamos and so on on. He was chosen to be the head of DOE for political reasons. Not that he was the first or last one to be chosen for that reason but he was way out of the depth. One the other reasons I heard they went after LANL so strongly was to tarnish Richardson since he was seen a VP contender down the road. I find it sad that both sides are so willing to jeopardize national security for political gains.
After the 1st Secretary of Energy, James Schlesinger, it has been all downhill. For me, Richardson and O'Leary were the low points while I was at Livermore. 9:34 PM states that Richardson was chosen for political reasons and in reality, most offices cabinet offices are filled for that reason.
"9:34 PM states that Richardson was chosen for political reasons and in reality, most offices cabinet offices are filled for that reason."
That does seem to be the case so Richardson is not unique but I can still have disdain for him and the whole process.
The White House issued a statement from President Biden concerning Richardson's passing. He noted his accomplishments and noted that their paths had crossed many years ago. It concluded by offering condolences to his wife Barbara and his daughter Heather. The problem being he didn't have a daughter. There are a number of articles out their purporting there was a daughter, all with sketchy details. Possibly that is where the staffers came up with the bio. Folks are blaming AI for providing a false biography.
The White House had to walk it back noting that the fact checkers failed. Bill was more closely aligned with the Clintons so it would stand to reason that he and Joe probably didn't swap pictures of the kids at a picnic.
Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him...
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