ABQjournal: Text of John Browne's Resignation Letter

January 2, 2003

Text of John Browne's Resignation Letter
The Associated Press
   Text of John Browne's resignation letter as director of Los Alamos National Laboratory:
    Dear President Atkinson:
    I want to assure you that I am fully accountable for the performance of Los Alamos National Laboratory in all matters. Our mission to ensure the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear stockpile and to reduce the threat of weapons of mass destruction demands no less.
    Los Alamos National Laboratory has been and is an organization in transformation. When I became director in 1997, I told you that I needed to make substantial changes in laboratory performance to meet the growing expectations of the Congress, the DOE, the public, and the employees. Changes were needed in all areas: mission focus, safety, security, facility operations, project management, business systems, communications and community relations.
    I believe that I made substantial progress in improving mission focus, diversity, safety, security, project management and community relations. Although I have had initiatives underway for several years, additional improvements are still needed in security, facility operations, business systems, and communications. To validate my statement, one can check the independent audits done by the DOE Office on Independent Assessments (OIA) in several of these areas. I regret that all the needed changes did not come fast enough to prevent the current procurement situation.
    During my five-year tenure as Director, my focus on integrated safety management has resulted in a 73% reduction in lost workday cases. We are a safer organization today. Since 1997, the UC regular workforce has grown by 16% but its diversity has increased more. For example, for technical staff members (TSM-scientists and engineers), the white majority male TSMs have increased by 18%, while Hispanic TSMs increased by 54%, Asian TSMs by 36 %, and female TSMs by 47%. Management also is much more diverse that five years ago. I am pleased with our diversity performance. Two major construction projects, the Strategic Computing Complex and the Nonproliferation and International Security Center, were both completed ahead of schedule and significantly under cost. Other projects have benefited from our project management improvements while a few still need improvements. The annual UC survey on community relations indicates strong support for the UC and LANL for our work in local educational and economic development matters, compared to five years ago.
    In areas that needed improvement, I engaged the Gartner Group several years ago to recommend improvements in our management information systems. Based on their report, we have competitively contracted with IBM and Oracle for a modern enterprise resource system that will provide all our managers with timely information on their desktop to better manage this lab. In the area of facility operations, we brought in BWXT, Washington Group, and Ernst and Young to provide us with a review against best business practices. Changes are underway to improve our facility operations. Similarly, UC contracted with Aegis Corporation to provide advice on our security program. While improvements are clearly needed in light of the recent criminal activity at TA-33, our security programs recently have been audited by OIA and shown to have major improvements compared to five years ago.
    These operational changes were made in a period of increased programmatic focus. Our stockpile stewardship program, which is responsible for five warheads in the U.S. nuclear stockpile, has made significant progress in 3-dimensional modeling & simulation with advanced computer architectures; our experimental program at new facilities like DARHT is producing higher precision information to test our simulators; and our plutonium pit production effort is on track for delivering a certifiable W-88 pit on schedule this spring. In the area of reducing the threat of weapons of mass destruction, I am proud of our people's response to the terrorist threat in the wake of September 11, 2001. We are continuing those efforts today throughout the world.
    But more operational and administrative change is needed at LANL and it must occur more quickly than in the past. I wish that I had been more successful in moving the Laboratory in the directions that I know are needed. However, the recent case has pointed out that some of my changes came too slowly to prevent our recent problems, and I think that earlier security issues in 1999-2000 have magnified this view.
    I have been a loyal and dedicated employee of the University of California for over 32 years. I have served our nation in a variety of national security positions. I believe strongly and deeply in the national security mission of Los Alamos and in its employees. In my opinion, there is neither a culture of theft in our workforce nor a culture of cover-up in senior management. During the recent spate of procurement card problems, I promptly requested many of the ongoing reviews and investigations, have cooperated fully with the investigators, and am prepared to live with their findings. Perhaps my greatest regret is that the recent apparent wrongdoing by a few employees has reflected badly on the extraordinary work, conducted day in and day out, by so many others who devote themselves to the nation's security.
    However, given the level of controversy regarding events of the past few months and the distraction it is bringing to carrying out our mission, I believe that it is in the best interests of the Laboratory, the University, and the Department of Energy that I resign my position as Director of Los Alamos National Laboratory effective January 6, 2003. It has been an honor and a pleasure to work for you and the Regents. I hope that I can continue to serve the University in the future.
    Sincerely,
    John C. Browne
    Director