Three Officials Disciplined in Spy Probe

Three officials of the Los Alamos nuclear weapons lab, including a former director, were disciplined Friday for mishandling an investigation into allegations of Chinese spying.

The University of California, which operates the lab for the Energy Department, announced the actions, following a recommendation from the Energy Department. It refused to identify the three, citing privacy concerns.

Two sources knowledgeable about the cases said the former lab director, Siegfried “Sig” Hecker, was given a letter of reprimand, but no additional sanctions were taken against him. Hecker, who headed the lab from 1986 to 1997, continues as a Los Alamos lab researcher.

The most severe action brought by the university was reportedly against Terry Craig, a former counterintelligence officer at the lab, who received a letter of reprimand. In addition, his salary was frozen and unspecified restrictions were placed on his job.

Robert Vrooman, a former chief of the lab’s counterintelligence office, who has been a part-time consultant to the lab since his retirement, was reportedly barred from doing consulting services for at least five years.

The three are the first--and in all likelihood will be the only--individuals to face sanctions in connection with the widely criticized handling of a three-year investigation of alleged espionage at the lab in New Mexico.

An Energy Department review found insufficient evidence to single out any senior department officials for failures in the case, although in a report last month it acknowledged “systemic problems” in department counterintelligence activities.

In March, a Los Alamos scientist, Wen Ho Lee, was fired for violating security rules. He had been the target of a three-year FBI inquiry concerning the alleged theft of nuclear warhead secrets in the 1980s. Lee has not been charged with any crime and has said he provided no secrets to China.

The case has prompted widespread criticism in Congress about security at the weapons research labs and demand for reorganization of the Energy Department.

Last month, Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, after an internal review by the department’s inspector general, called on the university to discipline the three individuals in connection with the Lee case.

The three officials reportedly singled out for discipline were accused last month of failures that contributed to the mishandling of the three-year FBI investigation of Lee.

Although not mentioned by name, Hecker was accused of failing to follow through to ensure that Lee was transferred to a less sensitive job.

Lee first came under intense FBI scrutiny in 1996, but was allowed to continue for nearly three years working as part of a team of scientists with daily access to warhead secrets.

Vrooman was singled out for failing to remove Lee from his position after being told by an FBI agent in 1997 that such a move no longer would jeopardize the FBI investigation.

Craig allegedly failed to adequately search records that showed in early 1995 that Lee had given a written waiver to have his computer searched.