UT weighs bid on lab contract

By Patrick Mcgee
Saturday, July 17, 2004
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

AUSTIN - In the midst of another apparent security breach at Los Alamos National Laboratory, the University of Texas System's Board of Regents met Friday to discuss whether they should make a bid to manage the facility.

UT System Chancellor Mark Yudof opened the discussion by acknowledging that there are serious considerations to be made about pursuing the lab's management contract but said that the northern New Mexico lab is a bastion of great science necessary for the nation's defense.

"Los Alamos is not, as some have suggested, a bomb-making factory," Yudof said. "If we got rid of every nuclear weapon tomorrow morning we would still need to understand the technology to protect ourselves."

Rep. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth, accused Yudof of making statements that were "lacking factually" about Los Alamos National Laboratory.

The lab has been managed by the University of California since it was founded during World War II, but Congress, concerned about security lapses, has ordered that the management contract be put out to bid.

In the latest incident last week, two computer disks full of nuclear secrets have come up missing.

Investigators have been stymied on the whereabouts of the disks, known to the scientists as "classified removable electronic media."

Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said the disappearance reflects "a widespread disregard for security" by lab officials.

In the meantime, all classified work at the laboratory has been ordered stopped.

The University of California, Lockheed Martin Corp. and at least eight other companies have expressed interest in bidding on the contract.

UT officials have said they're interested in making inroads to the lab in collaborations that they hope will boost the system's research programs.

Burnam, peace activists and some UT students said Texas would be unwise to seek responsibility for the lab's nuclear weapons, plutonium pits and litigation risks. They said the UT System has little or nothing to gain.

"We should utilize the genius of the University of Texas for higher goals," said Karen Hadden, chairwoman of Peace Action Texas. "We should work on diplomacy and renewable energy."

Austin Van Zant, a UT senior, urged regents to drop interest in the lab contract and concentrate on academics.

"I don't think you're acting in our best interests," said Van Zant, a member of UT Watch, a student watchdog group. "I don't see any advantage to pursuing this managment contract."

The regents listened and sometimes applauded the contract opponents. Chairman James Huffines thanked the speakers for their time and read letters from elected officials supporting the system's consideration of bidding.

U.S. Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Amarillo, wrote to "encourage the board to participate in this competition." U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio, wrote that UT System management of the lab would be a good move to merge some of Texas' greatest minds with an important national security interest.

Richard Smalley, a Rice University professor and winner of the Nobel Prize in chemistry, praised Los Alamos as "one of the great scientific temples of this country" that could significantly contribute to searches for new medicines and energy sources.

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