Tommy and his partner, Chuck Montano, have been at war with Los Alamos' management for over a decade, ever since Tommy was named the lab's "Whistleblower Officer," and Montano one his investigators.
After Montano backed Hispanic and female lab employees' claims of discrimination at the birthplace of the atomic bomb, Los Alamos managers in 1996 "directed all of the internal auditors to sign a 'loyalty pledge' agreeing to do nothing that was contrary to the official position, 'welfare,' or 'interests' of the Laboratory or the University," according to a lawsuit the pair recently filed against the lab.
But by 2003, Tommy seemed to be back in the lab's good graces. Los Alamos' old managers had been forced out, after they fired a pair of whistleblowers. Glenn Walp and Steve Doran were ex-police chiefs who had uncovered a series of shady purchases and lax security at Los Alamos. Their dismissal sparked national headlines and Congressional investigations.
Tommy was appointed as the head of a new unit that was supposed to follow up on Walp and Doran's findings. But when Tommy and Montano presented their report, they were told to get lost. The new unit was "buried" in a bureaucratic reorganization. Tommy was told he needed to be more "'flexible' and allow managers the opportunity to "change facts'" in his subsequent findings, according to his lawsuit. All work was taken away from him, for months. Now, it's clear, that was only the beginning of his troubles.
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