NUKE LAB STRIPS TOP COPS' BADGES
Heads continue to roll at the troubled Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Twin scandals involving fraud and lax security forced the atomic lab's director, John Browne, to resign late last week. On Tuesday, the lab announced that the security officials at the heart of the imbroglios have been demoted.
Stan Busboom and his deputy, Gene Tucker, were charged with keeping the country's most important nuclear lab secure. And they were supposed to prevent employees from stealing equipment and misusing government funds.
But Los Alamos suffered from chronically shoddy security. Many of the guards didn't even carry guns. Millions of dollars' worth of equipment was stolen or lost, including hard drives that almost certainly had classified information on them. And employees tried to use lab money to buy personal goods, from gas grills to fancy cars.
For the complete story behind the demotions, check out my article for Wired News.
And for additional background on the unfolding series of scandals at Los Alamos, click here, here, and here.
THERE'S MORE: John McTague -- the University of California vice president most responsible for the administration of the Los Alamos, Lawrence Livermore, and Lawrence Berkeley National Labs -- has been replaced. His successor is Bruce Darling, who recently chaired a University review team looking at Los Alamos' business practices.
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