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CHARLITE A Los Alamos whistleblower scheduled to testify before congress later thi s month is now in the hospital, according to news reports. Auditor Tommy Hook was brutally beaten by three or four anonymous assailants who alle gedly ordered him to keep quiet. On Saturday night, Hook went to a Santa Fe bar ostensibly to meet a perso n claiming to be a fellow Los Alamos whistleblower that called that nigh t When the person did not show, Hook left the bar after consuming two d rinks.
Whistleblowing auditor Tommy Hook before and after the beating. The men concentrated on kicki ng his head, and Hook's family has opined that the men would have killed him if it hadn't been for a club employee, who ran from the club and br oke up the beating. Congressional staff members were set to arrive Tuesday in Los Alamos to i nvestigate Hook's allegations of malfeasance at the lab. Tommy Hook remains hospitalized with severe trauma to his face and head, including a fractured jaw and a herniated disk. The FBI has been called- in to investigate the attack, and Hook is currently under close protecti ve custody. Congress Warned of Ill Treatment of Hook Last March, Danielle Brian, Executive Director Project On Government Over sight (POGO) testified before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations regarding a review of security initiati ves at DOE Nuclear Weapons Facilities. He especially focused on Hook and another whisterblower: "I would be remiss if I did not report to the Committee that, while not a part of former Secretary Abraham's initiatives, the treatment of whistl eblowers throughout the complex remains abysmal. Retaliation remains the norm, not the exception, as can be seen in the case of Tommy Hook and C huck Montano, who have both worked at Los Alamos for decades. "After the Committee's three hearings on financial fraud at Los Alamos, t he University of California was telling the public that all was resolved , while at the same time retaliating against these two men who knew othe rwise. Hook and Montano were responsible for providing audit support for UC and uncovered ongoing irregularities and outright misconduct amounti ng to millions of taxpayer dollars. Their work was taken away from them, they were given no work for nine months, and n ow they are only being handed menial assignments. Even the head of the L os Alamos Site Office tried to intervene on Tommy Hook's behalf, only to be rebuffed by an arrogant University of California." com, Susan Hook, the victim's wife, Bob Rot hstein, his attorney, and Montano confirmed that Hook was at the club to meet with another employee who claimed to have information that would s upport charges of wrongdoing. Susan Hook and Montano further alleged that the assault was absolutely co nnected to Tommy Hook's impending testimony: "When they were beating him up, they were telling him ... Rothstein recalled that a person claiming to be an auditor from Los Alamo s had contacted Hook a week before and had offered to share information about financial issues at the laboratory. Rothstein said that one meetin g had already fallen through, but the second was arranged on Saturday ni ght at the strip club. The nightclub's doorman ran into the parking lot and broke up the attack, according to a club employee who witnessed the beating. The employee sa id Hook was assaulted by a group of men. Joint Investigation Called to the scene, FBI Special Agent Bill Elwell confirmed that federal agents are investigating with Santa Fe police officers. He said they ar e "still trying to figure out" what happened at the nightclub. "We are l ooking into the allegations made by Mr Hook," Elwell said. Los Alamos issued a statement: "The University of California and the laboratory are outraged that a labo ratory employee was the victim of a weekend assault in Santa Fe.
Kuckuck was made aware of the attack this morning and express ed his hope that the individual will make a quick recovery" "Director Kuckuck, the University of California and the laboratory believ e that any form of physical violence toward an individual is unacceptabl e The laboratory is in contact with the Santa Fe Police Department and is providing the laboratory's full support and cooperation with the ongo ing investigation." Susan Hooks said that her husband's wallet and car were not taken.
View Replies To: CHARLITE It seems to me that this whole operation needs to be shut down and starte d over again from scratch if they are still doing anything useful. They are too deep into corruption and treason to be salvageable.
LOS ALAMOS STORE RAIDED The FBI has seized several items from a Los Alamos-area business, includi ng a laptop computer hard drive marked 'secret,'" according to KOB-TV. The owner of the Black Hole Surplus Store and Museum, Ed Grothus, says ag ents also have confiscated two rolls of tape stickers labeled "secret" a nd a Verbatim eight-millimeter tape with case. FBI Special Agent Bill Elwell of Albuquerque confirms that agents execute d a search warrant. s based on information the agency receive d and as a result of items that agents had seen bearing Los Alamos Natio nal Laboratory secret stickers. Investigators are looking into security and safety breaches at the lab, i ncluding the disappearance of two computer disks with classified informa tion.
View Replies To: CHARLITE >"We are looking into the allegations made by Mr Hook," FBI Special Agen t Elwell said. Nobody I know of would put themselve s up for a beating such as this to further substantiate their whistleblo wer statements.
When four guys try to kill you--those are not just "a llegations. More background on Elwell's investigation: Los Alamos Director Keeps Lab Moving by Adam Rankin, October 14, 2004 As the FBI's investigation into a Los Alamos National Laboratory employee and a pair of missing computer disks continues, laboratory director Pet e Nanos is pushing ahead with the resumption of normal operations and a reorganization of management, meant to provide more control and oversigh t FBI spokesman Bill Elwell said the agency is still investigating an unnam ed LANL employee, now on paid leave, allegedly involved in the disappear ance of a pair of classified computer disks. The FBI became involved in the investigation at the end of July. The question of whether the disks really exist, raised by Sen. Pete Domen ici, R-NM, this summer, still hasn't been answered. Elwell said FBI ag ents on the case "haven't told me anything different; Elwell said there are a lot of factors involved in the case, some of whic h the FBI can't control, so he can't say when the investigation might be resolved. On Tuesday, Nanos announced a management reshuffle, effective ly splitting LANL's Operations Directorate in two, creating a Technical Services Directorate and a Security and Facility Operations Directorate. LANL spokeswoman Kathy DeLucas said the move is not the result of any sin gle event or series of events, such as accidents or security lapses, but came about while the laboratory was undergoing significant internal rev iew, which was seized upon as an opportunity to reorganize a directorate that was "too big." Nanos said in a statement that he is convinced the split "will result in improved operational efficiency and better alignme nt of professional services." Nanos tapped Carolyn Mangeng, who had been acting deputy director, to be the acting associate director for the Technical Services Directorate, wh ich will focus on regulatory and compliance issues, project management a nd performance, counterintelligence and internal security, as well as he alth, safety and radiation protection. To replace Mangeng, Nanos named Don Cobb, associate director for threat r eduction, as the new acting deputy director. And he placed Scott Gibbs, who had been acting associate director for operations, in the role of ac ting associate director for the Security and Facility Operations Directo rate. The new directorate will support LANL nuclear and waste operations, secur ity, emergency operations, space management and site planning and facili ty operations support. The new divisions will "be a longte...
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