Testimony Sought on UC Lab

Officials at the troubled Los Alamos National Laboratory allegedly ignored for months the concerns of a lab subcontractor that employees appeared to be using the lab’s purchasing system to buy personal items, including camping and fishing equipment, according to investigators and documents released Tuesday.

The contract employee, identified as Jaret McDonald of Los Alamos, has been subpoenaed to appear today at a hearing before a congressional subcommittee investigating allegations of financial irregularities and mismanagement at the nuclear weapons lab.

The hearing comes as the Energy Department is considering whether to break the University of California’s 60-year-old contract to manage Los Alamos and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the nation’s two nuclear weapons design labs.

The hearing before the investigations panel of the House Energy and Commerce Committee is expected to be the first of at least three such sessions over the next few weeks to examine allegations of theft, credit card abuse and a cover-up at the lab.

The hearing will highlight findings by the committee’s investigators, who have spent several months interviewing lab employees and examining dozens of boxes of documents from the laboratory.

Rep. Jim Greenwood (R-Pa.), who heads the investigations subcommittee, said the latest allegations raise new questions about UC’s ability to manage the laboratory, which has an annual budget of $1.7 billion.

“It’s clear that the lab’s management either ignored these problems or tried to hide them from the public,” Greenwood said. “We intend to get to the bottom of it.”

McDonald could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

According to committee spokesman Ken Johnson, McDonald, who works for a laboratory support services company called KSL, tried at least twice between September 2001 and June 2002 to bring his concerns to the attention of lab officials. When they took no action, Johnson said, McDonald sent an anonymous tip to the FBI, which launched an investigation and issued search warrants for the homes and vehicles of several lab employees.

Among the items purchased, apparently inappropriately, were several Gore Tex coats, hiking boots, chest waders and digital cameras, according to the documents made available Tuesday.

UC spokesman Michael Reese said the university did not have sufficient details to comment on McDonald’s allegations.