LOS ALAMOS, N.M., July 23 (UPI) -- The head of the troubled Los Alamos National Laboratory suspended 19 employees, many of them senior scientists, over the loss of two critical computer disks.
Dr. George P. Nanos said researchers at the remote New Mexico facility are in "suicidal denial," and they remain part of a "culture of arrogance," believing the laboratory was so important to national security, their jobs could never be in jeopardy, the New York Times reported Friday.
Nanos also said the 19 employees would be fired if the two disks with classified information were not returned.
The disks are only the latest in a string of troubles at the facility. Besides the missing disks, this summer an intern's eye was injured by a laser.
The laboratory, run under contract by the University of California, was shut down last Friday.
Nanos said 15 workers had been placed on investigatory leave for security violations and safety infractions. Their badges have been taken away, and they can come back to the laboratory only under escort.
Eleven of the 19 had access to the safe where the missing disks were, Nanos said. Each denies having any knowledge of where the disks might be.
