No. 2 Official At Los Alamos Resigns

By CBS News Capitol Hill correspondent Sharyl Attkisson

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A top official with Los Alamos National Laboratory is quitting in the wake of the latest security scandal, CBS News has confirmed.

The resignation of John Mitchell, who had been Deputy Director at the Laboratory for less than a year, was quietly announced on internal Lab e-mails last week, the same day the CBS Early Show aired an exclusive report about how easy it was for a young lab worker to walk out with classified documents.

Los Alamos spokesman Kevin Roark said, however, that "John Mitchell's retirement has absolutely no connection to any security issues at the Laboratory."

In announcing his resignation, Mitchell told co-workers he wanted to concentrate on the next phase of his life. Watchdogs in Congress have been outraged at the continuing series of security breaches and management problems at Los Alamos, despite promises that things would be fixed.

Twenty-two-year-old Jessica Quintana, a former weapons data archivist at Los Alamos, has been under FBI investigation since October when police found the documents by accident in her trailer home while conducting a drug raid on her roommate. Authorities also found several portable storage devices called "thumb drives" containing classified documents.

Sources say Quintana had a top secret security clearance that allowed her access to such sensitive information as how to deactivate the locks on nuclear weapons. She was tasked with archiving data from decades of U.S. underground nuclear weapons tests. Quintana walked out of the lab unchecked last August with the documents and thumb drives in her backpack.

Today, Representative Ed Markey of the House Energy and Commerce Committee told CBS News: "No matter how many times you rearrange, re-design, retire or replace the deck chairs, Los Alamos is still the Titanic. Superficial attempts to demonstrate that there is any accountability at the lab will yield no useful results until the systemic and long-standing security failures associated with both management and lab culture are fixed."

I sometimes have to laugh at some people that believe they have the knowledge of a nuclear weapons PALS etc, I worked on and with nuclear weapons and associated equipment for 21 years in the Air Force. One person even stated that she had access codes, no where in that article did it say anything about that. If you had read the orginal article or listened to the news you would have heard that she had some information on thumb drives, but it was never accessed. And if you know anything about computers you can tell if a file had been accessed or not. She had no idea what she had. Just some files. As far as her security clearance goes, it easy for one to get one as long as you have a clean background. Many people in the military have the same or higher clearance such as myself. I still hold a top secret clearance even though I am retired. I could go on about these weapons, however the military can still recall me back in the service and send me to jail. Or worse. And by the way Mitchell resigned because of other reasons, not because someone walked away with some thumb drives, get your information straight before you post

[henrybowman]

This guy's resigning had absolutely NOTHING to do with the CBS News story on security problems. He was pissed off because he didn't like being Number 2! He wanted to be the Director. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

[santo_marco]

Look at that mug...it speaks a thousand words about this guy. An incompetent schmuck for the most part. It's dinosaurs like this who hire young tramps and grant top secret clearance, only to help "other countries" develop their own nuclear weapons.

[bluestardad]

rbfain sorry looks like the deputy is a man. you blind pimp

[bluestardad]

In the 80%u2019s these access devises were called Permissive Action Links or PALS. They could mechanically be taken off some weapon systems depending on delivery style, but for the most part you had to have the access code which was controlled by two people. How one person got these codes is unbelievable. If a military person had done this they would be court-martialed. But I bet the person responsible will still keep their job.

[antoniof123]

This country in 6 years has become a mess and a *** shoot. Thank you King George and Vice King ***.

[mjv2944]

I can't believe ONLY one is resigning!!! It appears there probably should be some above and below Mitchell that should go. I question as to whether LANL is even a necessity. It appears that there is no real security checks in place. If it can't be controlled, close it.

[alphaa10-2009]

Speaking of Whistleblowers

Tommy Hook, an auditor working for Los Alamos National Laboratories, was beaten severely by several men recently-- one of whom warned him to "keep his mouth shut". It was known Hook was to testify in federal hearings about financial mismanagement of LANL.

What does it take to get a sober assessment of the incompetent management and dire risk to national security at LANL? This bleeding chancre of a security issue will not go away, apparently, for lack of appropriate measures, and people to impose them with all due diligence and speed.

Not once, but at least four times LANL has been called on the carpet about its comatose attitude to security. Yet, the University of California retains the LANL contract. Why?

[alphaa10-2009]

Insecurity Circus at Los Alamos-- 2
Not by coincidence, the Bush regime recently announced an unpublished DOJ legal opinion withdrawing protections from American whistleblowers specifically granted to them under the Clean Water Act and other legislation, reversing two decades of precedent.

Whistleblowers, as most of us know, take upon themselves the patriotic duty of blowing the whistle on dengers to the safety and security of the Republic, and are wide open to retaliation from angry superiors. By withdrawing protections to such people, can Bush claims he cares what happens at Los Alamos or anywhere else on his watch?

[alphaa10-2009]

A 22-year-old minor league Los Alamos staffer named Quintana somehow had a Sigma 15 clearance allowing her such details about American nuclear weapons as how to bypass the trigger lock on our nuclear weapons. This information was found on one or more of the portable storage devices found in her trailer during a police raid.

Such a level of insecurity at Los Alamos-- of all places-- defies belief, except we already know how comatose Bush was about Katrina ("No one thought the levee would break."), so this merely adds more weight to the case Bush is the most incompetent wannabe ever to masquerade as president.