I have to agree with Old Professer #18 here. This actually DOES sound like a simple inventory mess up. Anybody who has ever worked in this realm of life can appreciate how easy it is to do this. I am very relieved if this is the case... we've had enough theft of secrets.
God knows that I'm all in favor of UC being forced to give up their Los Alamos responsibility, but not over this particular situation. ... and, by the way, no matter what, I still believe that the LosAlamos scientist (wen ho le?) circa'97 DID result in compromise of major nuclear secrets.
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So what do you and Squantos have against Uncle Charley (UC)?