UC hopes to continue talks on $3 million fine

More than 1,000 pages of documents found in home of lab worker in October 2006

Wendy Brown | The New Mexican

11/6/2007 -

The University of California has contested a $3 million fine issued in July over the discovery of Los Alamos National Laboratory classified documents at the home of a subcontractor's employee.

The U.S. Department of Energy notified the university of the unprecedented fine after more than 1,000 pages of documents were found at the worker's home in October 2006.

University spokesman Chris Harrington said the school has filed a notice of its intent to seek judicial review of the fine, but only because it wants to protect its legal rights as a 30-day deadline looms.

"It is important to note that the university has not decided to appeal the decision," said Harrington in a statement. The university managed the laboratory from 1943 until May 31, 2006, when a consortium including the university took over management.

The university and the Energy Department have been discussing the university's notice of violation, Harrington said, and the university's action allows those discussions to continue.

The university has been in settlement discussions with the National Nuclear Safety Administration for several weeks, according to a letter from a lawyer working for the university to an Energy Department official. NNSA is an agency within the Energy Department.

Harrington said he couldn't comment on the settlement discussions.

The fine and notice of violation resulted from the case of former contract worker Jessica Quintana, who had a high-level security clearance but downloaded and printed classified information from the lab in July 2006, according to her federal plea agreement.

Police found the information in Quintana's home in October when they were investigating an unrelated case, according to the agreement. She pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of unauthorized removal and retention of classified information.

The University of California committed five security-related violations in the case, according to a letter from NNSA. And Los Alamos National Security LLC committed seven security-related violations, according to the letter. The lab's violations ranged from failing to protect data ports to failing to assure physical security, according to the letter.

NNSA spokesman John Broehm said the administration does not comment on pending legal issues.

The fine, however, is the largest the administration has ever issued, Broehm said.

"It's unprecedented," he said.

The Energy Department also fined Los Alamos National Security $300,000 in the case.

Kevin Roark, a lab spokesman, said the lab has already paid the fine.

Contact Wendy Brown at 986-3072 or wbrown@sfnewmexican.com.