- (AP) -- Fifteen employees at the Los Alamos National
Laboratory were placed on leave amid an investigation into the disappearance
of two computer disks containing classified information, the director of
the nuclear weapons lab said Thursday.
-
- Four other employees also were placed on leave by Director
Pete Nanos in a separate investigation involving an intern at the lab who
suffered a serious eye injury from a laser.
-
- Nanos said the workers were stripped of their badges
and will not be allowed back in until their cases are resolved. They can
show up at the lab only for purposes of the investigation.
-
- "We've essentially moved them aside," Nanos
said.
-
- He did not identify the workers or say what they may
have done wrong. Of the jobs they perform, he said: "Suffice to say
it's all levels."
-
- Of the 15 employees on leave over the missing disks,
Nanos said 11 had access to a safe where the classified material was stored.
-
- The worker suspensions come a week after the lab's manager,
the University of California, ordered a halt to classified work while a
probe into the missing disks was under way, and to allow for a wall-to-wall
inventory at the lab, which has suffered a number of security lapses in
recent years.
-
- Nanos, who has since ordered a complete work stoppage
at the lab, said it could be months before some higher-risk work resumes.
-
- Officials have not said what was on the disks. Deputy
Energy Secretary Kyle McSlarrow said Wednesday that he wants the FBI's
help in the investigation, but added there was nothing to indicate espionage
was behind the disappearance.
-
- Nanos said the lab has not determined how long the disks
had been missing. He said they were believed to have been accounted for
in an April inventory, but that is now being questioned because there may
have been some irregularities in that inventory. Previously, they were
accounted for in December.
-
- The other investigation involves a July 14 experiment
during which an intern was injured by a laser that researchers had thought
was not producing a light at the time, lab officials said.
-
- Nanos said he had an "all-hands" meeting with
workers Thursday to stress the seriousness of the situation. He said some
workers are still in "denial" about problems at the lab.
-
- The missing disks and the eye injury are the latest of
a series of embarrassments at the lab, ranging from missing classified
data to a scandal over fraudulent use of credit cards.
-
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