Posted on 06/06/2005 6:52:41 PM PDT by CHARLITE
A Los Alamos whistleblower scheduled to testify before congress later this month is now in the hospital, according to news reports. Auditor Tommy Hook was brutally beaten by three or four anonymous assailants who allegedly ordered him to keep quiet.
On Saturday night, Hook went to a Santa Fe bar ostensibly to meet a person claiming to be a fellow Los Alamos whistleblower that called that night. When the person did not show, Hook left the bar after consuming two drinks.
In the parking lot, he was yanked out of his car and beaten so badly by the three or four men that he had to be taken to intensive care at a local emergency room.
Reportedly, Hook did not provoke these men. The men concentrated on kicking 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 broke up the beating.
Congressional staff members were set to arrive Tuesday in Los Alamos to investigate 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 protective custody.
Congress Warned of Ill Treatment of Hook
Last March, Danielle Brian, Executive Director Project On Government Oversight (POGO) testified before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations regarding a review of security initiatives 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 whistleblowers throughout the complex remains abysmal. Retaliation remains the norm, not the exception, as can be seen in the case of Tommy Hook and Chuck Montano, who have both worked at Los Alamos for decades.
"After the Committee's three hearings on financial fraud at Los Alamos, the University of California was telling the public that all was resolved, while at the same time retaliating against these two men who knew otherwise. Hook and Montano were responsible for providing audit support for UC and uncovered ongoing irregularities and outright misconduct amounting to millions of taxpayer dollars.
"Their audit reports were withheld from DOE. Their treatment? Their work was taken away from them, they were given no work for nine months, and now they are only being handed menial assignments. Even the head of the Los Alamos Site Office tried to intervene on Tommy Hook's behalf, only to be rebuffed by an arrogant University of California."
According to a report in Exec.com, Susan Hook, the victim's wife, Bob Rothstein, his attorney, and Montano confirmed that Hook was at the club to meet with another employee who claimed to have information that would support charges of wrongdoing.
Susan Hook and Montano further alleged that the assault was absolutely connected to Tommy Hook's impending testimony:
"When they were beating him up, they were telling him ... 'If you know what is good for you, you will keep your mouth shut,'" said Susan Hook.
Rothstein recalled that a person claiming to be an auditor from Los Alamos had contacted Hook a week before and had offered to share information about financial issues at the laboratory. Rothstein said that one meeting had already fallen through, but the second was arranged on Saturday night 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 said 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 are "still trying to figure out" what happened at the nightclub. "We are looking 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 laboratory employee was the victim of a weekend assault in Santa Fe. Director [Robert] Kuckuck was made aware of the attack this morning and expressed his hope that the individual will make a quick recovery"
"Director Kuckuck, the University of California and the laboratory believe that any form of physical violence toward an individual is unacceptable. The laboratory is in contact with the Santa Fe Police Department and is providing the laboratory's full support and cooperation with the ongoing investigation."
Susan Hooks said that her husband's wallet and car were not taken.
Yikes!
1. meeting some anonymous person at a strip club
2. had only two drinks
3. got the ever livin' crap beaten out of me because I was so virtuous and courageous
On the flip side where better to set the stage to impair his creditability and a place for the thugs that beat him to blend in and not look out of place.
hust thoughts
dozer
"He even saw to it that all the badges, top security as well as janitor, all looked the same so it would be harder to know who was who."
That was actually Hazel O'Leary's pronouncement (Witch Hazel). Her alleged reasoning was that any badge color coding for security clearance levels, area access, etc., was racist. At a meeting at one of the weapons labs she would not let the meeting start because there were not enough black participants in the conference room. She was insistant on this requirement being met before the meeting started. So the staff had to gather some warm bodies to meet her requirement. Then they could not discuss anything because the extra people gathered to meet the requirement did not have the required security clearances and proper need to know (info compartmentalized).
Not only was security compromised during the O'Leary administration of DOE (and Bill Richardson did little or nothing to correct this garbage), all to meet her political correctness whims, she also damaged morale at the labs.
I worked around an "engineer" who graduated from UC Berserkley. Nothing but political agenda. Cheered for the tanks in Tien An Mein Square. Note that I said worked around, as in the presence of, instead of with. I could thus see why UC Berserkley nearly lost its engineering accreditations.
later read
Yeows, it sure seems like it. After this, the whole danged place ought to be investigated thoroughly.
Thank you for the ping. As another poster noted, the whole danged place ought to be closed down and investigated from the top down.
Oh, the memories...
According to her philosophy, having different colored badges to denote the different levels (or lack of) clearance was discrimination, so the pronouncement came down that all badges were to be made identical. Then they had to come up with some silly alphanumeric code on the front so we could decifer the badgeholder's clearance. So, to get around that foolishness, we wore our identical badges in appropriately colored plactic pouches. But the code and badgeholder's name were printed in such small print (the result of another one of Hazel's PC pronouncements) that women were complaining about having their chests stared at (trying to read the fine print). So they added another 'badge' to wear behind that one with the big print of your preferred name (it was sold as a 'nickname' badge) showing below.
She also didn't like the intimidating 'feel' of having armed guards at the gates checking badges. So now we have unmanned turnstiles; installing them brought on its own endless string of security problems to work through (how to let in those who should be in, and keep out those who should stay out -- those days were fun, too) not to mention just the cost of remodeling all the entrances so they 'look nice'.
The stupidity of political correctness just never ends...
Good point.
Sounds like the FBI should be investigating the University of California.
No less than Robert A. Heinlein provided a critique of the decline of the U of C system in his book Expanded Universe, which was written sometime between 1976 and 1980.
most likely tied to those tolerant, inclusive and compassionate libs
Worked around, as in isolated the faulty circuit and restored functionality?
I can hardly be blamed for not remembering all the details of Los Alamos.
There were SO MANY Clinton scandals, it got hard to keep up with all of them:-)
It's why I love this forum so. Thanks for the reference.
Chicoms. Asians use feet to kick the head.
Union thugs use bats.
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