For years I have been troubled by the fact that the University I am a member of plays this unique and major role in US weapons' work. I have always believed that UC should terminate this role. Running weapons laboratories is at odds with the mission of an open institution of higher education, as the bulk of what the labs do is neither in the open nor education-related. Our stewardship of the labs is also inappropriate from the point of view that we are a community that spans a wide range of political orientations, ethical views, and nations of citizenship. It violates UCD's Principles of Community.
A careful, 1996 study by the University Committee on Research Policy (UCORP) concluded that our management of the weapons labs does not fulfill the conditions of appropriate public service. It advocated phasing-out this role. The report was severely attacked by UC officials. The attacks generally ignored the central ethical question of whether it was appropriate for us to to be managing US weapons laboratories. The 1996 report was one of several that have been done over the years, the reports consistently taking a dim view of our role in the labs. In 1990, faculty at the nine campuses voted 64% to phase out UC management of the labs. In 1996, 39% of faculty voted to do so. Regardless, this is not a question for which the UC faculty have any say, and the DOE contracts have always been renewed.
Now Los Alamos and its UC management is again in the news. Amid FBI, DOE, and Congressional investigations of widespread theft and fraud, UC President Richard Atkinson announced last week the resignation of Los Alamos' Director John Browne and Deputy Director Joseph Salgado. Employees are accused of purchasing numerous personal items on government funds. Management is accused of dismissing those who had been investigating the incidents.
The scandal is the third to hit Los Alamos in recent years. In 1999, amid accusations of lax security (and later of racial profiling) Dr. Wen Ho Lee, a Taiwanese-born scientist at Los Alamos, was accused of espionage. He was put in solitary confinement for nine months. Eventually, all major charges were dropped and Dr. Lee was freed.
Another widely-publicized scandal at the lab, in 2000, involved two missing disk drives contained information about how to dismantle various nuclear weapons. They were eventually found behind a copy machine.
It has been reported that DOE Secretary Spencer Abraham is considering putting out for bid UC's contract to run Los Alamos, or even canceling it early. This would be a nice outcome, even if it should come to pass for the wrong reason. The question isn't if UC manages the labs poorly or well. We shouldn't be managing weapons labs at all. It is unfit business for a university.