Property of Nuclear Critic Is Seized by Federal Agents

[struggle4progress]

Source: NYT

By WILLIAM J. BROAD
Published: October 20, 2009

Federal agents have seized six computers, two cameras, two cellphones and hundreds of files from a Los Alamos, N.M., physicist who for two decades has criticized the government’s nuclear agenda as misguided ...

Dr. Mascheroni was laid off from the Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1988 ... In recent years, he has repeatedly gone to Congress to question the management of the nation’s nuclear laboratories and arsenal, saying his laser was needed to ensure weapon reliability ...

Dr. Mascheroni, a naturalized United States citizen and a native of Argentina, said in the interview that he tried to drum up foreign interest in his laser after Congress in 2007 rejected his pleas for a hearing. He said he had written to physics institutions in Britain, France and, because of its oil wealth, Venezuela.

Last year, he said, a man claiming to be a Venezuelan representative agreed to pay him $800,000 for a laser study. Dr. Mascheroni said he delivered the unclassified study but was never paid. He said his intent was never to build the laser in Venezuela but to use that country’s interest to pressure Congress and the federal bureaucracy into taking his ideas seriously ...

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/21/us/21alamos.html?_r=1

[Ian David]

1. It's a nice "laser beam" but can you attach it to a frickin' shark? n/t

[RedCloud]

2. Sounds like they over reacted and will owe some bucks.

[struggle4progress]

3. Ex-Los Alamos lab physicist says home searched (AP)

... He said that in the fall of 2007, he approached the Venezuelan government — along with physics departments at universities in England and France — to see about a job to pursue his work. He was contacted in February 2008 by a man who said he represented the Venezuelan government and wanted to learn about starting a weapons program.

The two met twice at a Los Alamos hotel for a total of 90 minutes, Mascheroni said.

"I never passed information which I consider classified to a reporter or to Congress or to anybody," Mascheroni said. "The information I passed is information I got from the Internet."

Mascheroni said he provided the man with a CD containing unclassified information widely available on the Internet. He said he hoped the Venezuelan government would hire him to work on his hydrogen-fluoride laser fusion project in New Mexico, which would help him prove his case to Congress ...

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hW_1MTTOw2elptmI4jEbPxKPwJMwD9BFQNJ81

[Judi Lynn]

4. Former Los Alamos lab physicist says FBI searched his home as part of spy investigation

Source: Associated Press

Former Los Alamos lab physicist says FBI searched his home as part of spy investigation
HEATHER CLARK
Associated Press Writer
8:01 a.m. CDT, October 22, 2009

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Federal agents seized computers, papers, books and electronic equipment from the home of a former Los Alamos National Laboratory nuclear scientist, who last year sought to work on a fusion project with Venezuela but believes the U.S. government is wrongly targeting him as a spy.

P. Leonardo Mascheroni told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Wednesday from his home that four FBI agents searched his home for 13 hours on Monday. The agents, he said, led him to believe they were investigating him for espionage.

"I am not a spy," Mascheroni said. "If I were a spy, a long time ago I would have gone away from the United States with all my knowledge. Instead, I stay in my house all the time and am working all the time and presenting all the time to Congress. Is that what a spy does?"

FBI spokesman Darrin Jones confirmed the agency is pursuing an "ongoing investigation" in Los Alamos, but declined further comment Wednesday. No charges have been filed against Mascheroni.

Meanwhile, Mascheroni's wife, Marjorie, a technical writer at the lab, was placed on administrative leave Monday while the lab conducts an internal investigation, according to the lab.


Read more: http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/sns-ap-us-los-alamos-investigation,0,5889551.story

[ananda]

5. Chavez is our bete noir du jour.

They should know that.