Browne: Lab's next chief must do better at communicating with the public

<br>LOS ALAMOS, N.M. (AP) _ Los Alamos National Laboratory's next director must do a better job telling the public about the lab's failures as well as its success, outgoing director John Browne

Friday, January 3rd 2003, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. (AP) _ Los Alamos National Laboratory's next director must do a better job telling the public about the lab's failures as well as its success, outgoing director John Browne said.

The 60-year-old physicist has resigned amid a growing number of government investigations into charges of widespread theft and fraud at the nuclear weapons lab.

Browne said Thursday was not pressured to quit by federal officials or the University of California, which runs the lab for the Energy Department.

Browne said university president Richard Atkinson told him during a Dec. 23 conversation the lab may need a ``management change'' to address its problems.

Browne, whose contract was through November, told Atkinson he was prepared to offer his resignation and Atkinson said he would accept it. Browne acknowledged it would have been difficult for UC to renew his contract had he not stepped down.

Browne's resignation is effective Monday. Also stepping down is Joseph Salgado, a principal deputy director at the lab.

In an interview, Browne said he felt his credibility had suffered too much to be able to guide the lab through the latest round of problems.

``The controversy was so strong and so critical of management that I personally thought the best thing for me to do was resign and to have the university come in and take it to the next level of performance,'' he said.

The Energy Department, the FBI and at least two congressional committees are investigating allegations of credit card abuses at the lab over the past several years and the disappearance of high-tech hardware and other equipment.

Browne said he hopes the interim director _ retired Navy Vice Admiral George Nanos _ will continue efforts started until Browne's administration to improve lab management, including its purchasing and procurement systems.

``What the laboratory has to learn to do better and better is to communicate with everyone and it's something the new administration at Los Alamos will have to maintain a focus on very strongly,'' Browne said.

Browne also urged the interim administration to move quickly on improvements and not wait until the university selects a permanent director.

Reflecting on his own tenure, Browne called the job the toughest professional challenge of his life.

Browne said he felt he had made significant improvements as director, but the controversies had distracted him from improving lab management.

``My tenure as director has felt like sailing a sailboat and trying to put up a new set of sails in the middle of a squall,'' he said.

The lab, during Browne's tenure, was also tarnished by security scandals that included missing computer disks and the controversy involving former scientist Wen Ho Lee. Lee was jailed for nine months after being accused of stealing nuclear secrets. He denied any wrongdoing and ended up pleading guilty to a single felony count after the government's case crumbled.

His resignation comes less than two months after Los Alamos released the results of an audit into its credit card program over nearly four years that questioned $4.9 million in transactions.

The lab has said only $2,800 of the total was identified as being used for illegal buys, but watchdog groups have said the figure should be higher.

Also, two lab investigators went public with allegations of wrongdoing when they were fired in November. Glenn Walp and Steven Doran were hired last year to investigate the lab's handling of government property and money.