Statement from Los Alamos National Laboratory

Contact: Kevin Roark, camerahead@lanl.gov, (505) 665-0582 (00-085)

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LOS ALAMOS, N.M., June 14, 2000 -- Several managers at Los Alamos National Laboratory were placed on leave with pay Monday.

The leave is not a punitive or disciplinary action, but rather was taken to ensure the independence of a University of California review of management performance and practices in relation to the recent security incident at the Laboratory.

Disciplinary or corrective action, if any, will be determined on the basis of results of the UC management review and other inquiries underway.

The individuals placed on leave represent the management chain of command -- from group leader up to the office of the Laboratory director -- who have some responsibility and/or accountability relevant to this incident.

The incident involves two missing hard drives containing classified information. Senior managers at the Laboratory immediately notified the Department of Energy when they learned of the incident.

The UC review panel will be led by Rear Admiral Robert Wertheim, USN-Retired, a private consultant and former senior vice president of science and engineering for Lockheed, Corp.

The Laboratory does not release names or any other personal identifiers in actions such as this, consistent with UC personnel policies.

More news releases from the Security and Safeguards (S) Division