Los Alamos Culture, Management Still a Concern, Witnesses Say WASHINGTON - A lesson in management may cost the University of California roughly $14 million, a National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) administrator told members of a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee today. The cost of the Los Alamos National Laboratory stand-down has been a chief concern to Energy and Commerce Chairman Joe Barton, R-Texas, who has said that taxpayers should not have to pick up the tab for the university's ineptitude. Costs of the stand-down range from $120 million to nearly $370 million. Both Barton and U.S. Rep. Ed Whitfield, chairman of the committee's Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, supported the stand-down but have expressed concern that taxpayers are footing the bill for University of California mismanagement. Several witnesses talked about the culture at Los Alamos and its effect on the problems the lab has had in recent years. "It is trendy now to try to tag a particular person or group but quite frankly management that occurred is a byproduct of many years of atrophy in seeking excellence in expectations," said Jerry Paul, NNSA principal deputy administrator. "We've got the best science in the world there. There's a standard of excellence when it comes to science. The toughest problems resolved by man on the face of the earth happen on that plot of land by these great Americans and they've done so for over six decades. But in terms of the management and the culture of compliance, we haven't quite gotten to that standard of excellence." Michael Kilpatrick, director of the Office of Independent Oversight and Performance Assurance at the Department of Energy, testified that the attention focused on Los Alamos has resulted in significant safety and security improvements. "However, the concerns are longstanding and efforts to change a site culture are difficult, as evidenced by the initial deficiencies in implementation of new DOE CREM (ongoing classified removable electronic media) requirements," Kilpatrick said. "While we believe that the recent DOE and NNSA actions have been aggressive and appropriate, continued management attention is warranted." ####