Sandia Security Concerns

[William V Lipton <liptonw@DTEENERGY.COM>]

A report on CBS News this morning is available at:



http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/08/20/eveningnews/main569353.shtml



The headline is about compensation to whistleblowers at Los Alamos.

However, the report goes on to document continuing problems at Sandia,

including master keys missing, unauthorized photography (When an

investigation began on this, the computer storing the pictures was

smashed, at the direction of management.), guards sleeping on the job,

and retaliation against those who reported problems.



I've been reading the thread on the usefulness or lack thereof for the

DOE, "Citizens Advisory Boards."  While I don't condone disruptive

actions by participants, I am convinced that DOE facilities must have

outside oversight.  They clearly cannot regulate themselves.  If

citizens living near DOE facilities become frustrated and feel

stonewalled by DOE, some of them will become disruptive.



I remember one experience that I had as an employee of a DOE

contractor.  I provided hp coverage for an accelerator facility.  One of

the accelerator operators came to me with electrical safety concerns.  I

took a look and verified that there were serious problems.  They're

smart people and had thought of many creative ways to violate the most

basic rules of electrical safety.  When I reported this to the facility

manager, he did not ask for details.  He probably already knew about

this.  He wanted only one piece of additional information:  Who reported

this?  I'm very glad that I withheld the name, since I believe the

individual would have probably been fired.  Instead, I was harrassed.



Instead of dismissing the CAB's out of hand, DOE needs to implement an

effective means of demonstrating accoutability to the community.



The opinions expressed are strictly mine.

It's not about dose, it's about trust.

Curies forever.



Bill Lipton

liptonw@dteenergy.com







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