ABQjournal: LANL No 'Den of Thieves,' Ex-Official Says

Thursday, March 13, 2003

LANL No 'Den of Thieves,' Ex-Official Says

By Michael Coleman
Journal Washington Bureau
    WASHINGTON — Los Alamos National Laboratory officials told congressional investigators Wednesday that they never tried to cover up allegations of theft and fraud at the lab.
    Lab officials also defended their firing of two lab employees who called attention to the problems.
    "There was absolutely no cover-up or attempted cover-up of theft or criminal activity," Joseph F. Salgado, former principal deputy director of the lab, told the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.
    Wednesday's hearing, the second this year, was part of a continuing effort by Congress to determine how LANL employees made thousands of dollars worth of questionable purchases on lab credit cards without intervention from lab management.
    Lab workers are accused of using tax dollars to buy or attempt to buy personal items ranging from clothing to camping gear to a Ford Mustang.
    Committee members on Wednesday grilled current and former lab officials about the firing of Glenn Walp, the former head of LANL's Office of Security Inquiries, and Steve Doran, also of the OSI office.
    Walp and Doran contend they were fired last fall for blowing the whistle on alleged security violations. The men have since been rehired by the University of California, which manages LANL.
    Salgado was fired on Jan. 31 after he failed to submit a letter of resignation as requested by officials at the University of California, which manages the lab.
    Salgado told the panel that LANL's culture has long fostered reckless spending of taxpayer money on things such as meals, office furniture and other job-related expenses. But he denied that the lab had become a "den of thieves."
    "The money the taxpayers give ... was not treated in an appropriate fashion and at times was treated like Monopoly money," he said, adding that he tried to take steps to cut down on frivolous spending.

'Panel of denial'
    Most members of the committee did not seem persuaded by lab officials' attempts to justify their handling of the accusations of theft and fraud or their firing of Walp and Doran.
    Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., was particularly harsh in her questioning as she chided LANL brass for evading her questions and failing to act on information that could have shed light on the theft and fraud sooner.
    "This is the panel of denial," Eshoo said, referring to former LANL Security Division director Stanley L. Busboom, Salgado, and lab counsel Frank P. Dickson, all of whom testified. "And I think that goes to the heart of the abuses and why we are here reviewing them."
    Eshoo likened the lab's security, which until Jan. 8 was overseen by Busboom, to a "Keystone Kops" operation. She also said there "was a dereliction of duty" among LANL management.
    Salgado said he took "responsibility" for firing Walp and Doran, explaining they had repeatedly provided lab officials with inaccurate or incomplete information during their investigations.
    Salgado said the decision to fire the two men was made during a meeting attended by him, Dickson, Busboom and Richard Marquez, associate director for administration at the lab.

Leaked documents
    In written testimony, Salgado said Walp and Doran confused a lab employee who was accused of trying to use a lab credit card to buy a Ford Mustang with another innocent employee.
    Salgado also said he was concerned that a 30-pound box of sensitive documents was leaked to the Albuquerque Journal in November. Salgado said he never accused Walp or Doran of leaking the documents but added that the documents were maintained by Walp's Office of Security Inquiries.
    "It is my professional opinion that is where the information came from," Salgado said.
    At a hearing last month, Walp and Doran testified that lab managers intent on protecting the University of California's management contract at LANL obstructed investigations into theft and property loss.
    On Wednesday, both men said their earlier statements were only bolstered by testimony from Salgado, Busboom and Dickson.
    "Every word, every expression, every mumble was blatantly telling," Walp said. "The dead space in the testimony to me concretely supports everything that Steve and I have been saying."
    Doran seconded that.
    "I think their testimony made it clear that there was definitely a cover-up and conspiracy to get rid of us so we could not go any further in our investigations."
    Dickson said he did not try to persuade investigators that they were expected to sweep any improprieties they found under the rug. He said it was "staggering" that his integrity had been questioned by people who hardly knew him.
    "I never told Mr. Walp or Mr. Doran that our job was to protect the lab or its image," Dickson told the panel. "Certainly, that is not how I view my job."
    Journal staff writer Adam Rankin contributed to this report.