DOE Fires Head Of Weapons Labs

In a gently worded announcement, Energy Secretary Samuel W. Bodman fired Linton F. Brooks as head of the National Nuclear Security Administration. NNSA is a semiautonomous agency within the Energy Department responsible for overseeing the nation's nuclear weapons programs and operations. In a statement announcing Brooks's ordered resignation, Bodman pointed to "management and security issues" with serious implications for U.S. security, particularly a recent security breach at Los Alamos National Laboratory. In the termination statement, however, Bodman also called Brooks "a good man" and one who "will be missed at DOE." On Jan. 5, the day after Brooks's firing, his assistant, Thomas Paul D'Agostino, NNSA deputy administrator for defense programs, was appointed acting NNSA administrator. NNSA was created in 2000 because of security breaches at the national labs, but the problems have continued despite attempts to tighten security.