http://www.dailycal.org/sharticle.php?id=25422
By Tamara Bartlett
Daily Cal Staff Writer
July 16, 2007
The U.S. Department of Energy issued a notice Friday proposing a $3.3
million fine against the University of California and other managers of
the Los Alamos National Laboratory for an October security breach.
The department and the National Nuclear Security Administration sent
preliminary notices of the violation to the university and Los Alamos
National Security, LLC with a proposed $3 million civil penalty against
the university and $300,000 penalty against the security group in
response to a 2006 incident involving the mishandling of classified
documents.
The classified material was discovered last October when police
responded to a domestic disturbance near the lab at a trailer home that
belonged to Jessica Quintana, a former subcontracted employee at the
lab.
During the investigation, the police confiscated the classified material
along with drugs and drug paraphernalia found in the trailer home.
According to the preliminary notices, the university and the security
group, which includes the university, have 30 days to respond to the
notices or they will have relinquished their right to appeal the
violation and the penalty will be final.
UC spokesperson Chris Harrington said in a statement the university
plans to respond to the alleged violation, explaining that its contract
with the lab ended in May 2006, before the alleged violation, and that
the “incident involved the individual behavior of a subcontracted,
non-UC/(lab) employee.”
The department also issued a compliance order to the security group,
which won a bid to oversee the lab in December 2005, requiring that it
implement specific actions to fix the problems that led to the
violation.
The security group has 15 days to file an appeal if it wishes to contest
the order.
Violating the order could result in a notice of civil penalties of up to
$100,000 per violation per day, the order stated.
Harrington said in the statement that the university hopes to strengthen
security.
“The university remains outraged at the actions taken by the individual
involved in this incident. We believe the type of behavior involved—a
failure to follow clearly defined security protocols and a violation of
the law—is completely unacceptable,” he said.
Received on Mon Jul 16 04:14:01 2007