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Laboratory Director G. Peter Nanos pulled no punches at Wednesday's all-employee meeting telling workers if they can't follow rules for protecting classified material they can't work at Los Alamos.

Nanos addresses Lab culture and latest CREM incident

Laboratory Director G. Peter Nanos on Wednesday warned employees that one more serious security incident could spell disaster.

At a mandatory all-hands meeting in the Administration Building Auditorium at Technical Area 3 and for employees watching on LABNET, Nanos talked about Laboratory culture and addressed the latest incident involving Classified Removable Electronic Media (CREM).

"You may think this is a minor incident … let me tell you, it is as bad as you could imagine," said Nanos.

Two items of CREM were discovered missing from the Weapons Physics (WP) Directorate during a July 7 special inventory associated with an upcoming experiment. An immediate search did not locate the items, and a subsequent and extensive search is currently in progress.

In a news release about the incident issued by the Laboratory last week, Nanos said he intends to exercise his authority as director "to hold those involved fully accountable, up to and including termination of employment, if appropriate."

Dimitri Mihalas of Material Science (X-7) said the latest security incident involving two items of Classified Removable Electronic Media (CREM) goes beyond individuals or the Laboratory and imperils the nation's security. Mihalas made his comments during the question and answer session following Nanos' all-employee meeting, "Our Culture."

At the all-employee meeting, Nanos reaffirmed that sentiment and categorized those people responsible for the latest CREM incident as being "cowboys" and "bad actors" whose failure to follow the rules has not only severely hurt the Laboratory’s reputation but may also have jeopardized the University of California’s chance at retaining the Laboratory’s contract.

"If one of the cowboys at Los Alamos who think that the rules don’t apply to them goes off and does something stupid, you can just kiss the University of California goodbye," said Nanos.

"There is talk going around Congress of having legislation that will forbid the University of California from bidding on [the Laboratory’s] contract because of this incident," Nanos continued. "People in Washington just don’t understand how any group of people that purports to be so intelligent can be so inept."

In light of the recent incident, Nanos said there will be a stand-down of all classified activities effective at noon today. Following the stand-down, a wall-to-wall CREM inventory will be conducted and actions will be taken to improve CREM accountability at the Laboratory.

Nanos said all employees play a special role in improving Laboratory culture and have to take an active role in guaranteeing future security incidents do not take place. "This is not high school," said Nanos, who encouraged employees to take action and speak out when they "find a bad actor amongst you who is putting your safety at risk."

Nanos also stressed that the Laboratory is "working without a net" and that there is "no room for error."

"We’re fighting for the very identity of Los Alamos as a science laboratory," said Nanos. "It’s one of the last two science labs that does national security work in any major way, and I believe we’re on the verge of losing that."

Before concluding, Nanos said he regretted not having better news because many people at the Laboratory deserve a lot better than the problems going on right now.

"I am deeply sorry for the failures of this institution and the impact that it has had and the fact that it has denied you the full realization of the benefits of the work you’ve put in," said Nanos. "You deserve better. My pledge to you is to turn this around in the time we have left [even if] we may not have very long."

Nanos is scheduled to talk to UC’s Board of Regents today at the regents’ regular meeting at UC, San Francisco.

Those who missed Wednesday’s mandatory all-hands meeting can view the talk on LABNET, Channel 10. The talk will be rebroadcast at 8 and 10 a.m., noon, 2 and 4 p.m., today and continuing through July 30.

--Chris Roybal

Laboratory personnel packed into the Administration Building Auditorium at Technical Area 3 on Wednesday to hear Laboratory Director G. Peter Nanos talk about the lack of attention to security. Nanos' talk is being rebroadcast today and for the next two weeks on LABNET Channel 10. Photos by LeRoy N. Sanchez, Public Affairs

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