Embattled national laboratory rehires fired guard

BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory will comply with a federal arbitrator's order that it rehire a former security guard who says he was fired for reporting security, health and safety violations.

Lab officials say Mathew Zipoli on Monday will regain his job on the special weapons team that protects the lab and its stockpile of weapons-grade plutonium.

Laboratory officials said they fired Zipoli, the vice president of the union representing lab security officers, in September 2001 for organizing a sickout of security officers.

The arbitrator concluded he didn't engineer the sickout, though his participation may have helped persuade other officers to join.

A second guard, union president Charles Quinones, was not reinstated, but may also be interviewed by congressional investigators who are expanding what began as a review of theft and fraud allegations at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.

Both labs are run by the University of California, but the scandal and other alleged mismanagement is threatening a 60-year partnership between the government and the university system that produced both the atomic and hydrogen bombs.

Los Alamos is being investigated for $2.7 million in missing computers and other property and widespread misuse of lab-issued credit cards, including an attempt by a lab employee to buy a souped-up Ford Mustang for $20,000.

Cover-up allegations also surfaced after two internal investigators who reported the thefts were fired in November. In recent weeks, the Los Alamos director has stepped down and other top officials have been reassigned.

``We are interested in talking to anyone who has credible evidence of fraud, theft or mismanagement at any of the labs,'' said U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee spokesman Ken Johnson. ``All of the labs run by UC are part of our investigation now.''

Now the two Los Alamos investigators have been rehired, while Zipoli and Quinones have filed complaints and state and federal lawsuits alleging they were victims of retaliation for blowing the whistle on lax security and other violations.

Lab spokeswoman Susan Houghton acknowledged training was inadequate, but said the lab is now meeting federal security requirements. The lab also has since purchased more protective masks for security guards, after Zipoli complained too few were being provided. And the lab is now providing officers with routine tests for potential radiation exposure.

On Friday, laboratory director Michael Anastasio sent a memo to workers encouraging them to come forward without fear of retribution. Anastasio has asked for Livermore to be included in a UC-wide whistleblower hot line, but said employees may also contact the inspector general.

Quinones said he will continue fighting for reinstatement despite the arbitrator's ruling that he could be fired for helping organize a sickout by 47 guards on Aug. 6, 2001, the anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing. The lab had to reassign supervisors to guard duty when 200 anti-nuclear protesters arrived, costing the lab $17,000 in overtime.

Guards were attempting to draw attention to their salary and working condition complaints.

Meanwhile, some UC scientists said their scientific research would not be seriously harmed if the university system loses its contract to run the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Researchers could turn elsewhere for the supercomputers and high-tech gear they now use at the geographically distant lab, said UC Berkeley physicist and Nobel laureate Charles H. Townes, and UC Berkeley physics department chairman Christopher F. McKee.

Tom ``Zack'' Powell, chairman of UC Berkeley's Energy and Resources Group, suggested Los Alamos gains more from its association with the university system than the system does from running Los Alamos.

However, they said the same would not be true if the university loses its oversight of the nearby Lawrence Livermore lab.

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)