nuclear agency head dismissed for lapses

from ap/my way: Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman on Thursday dismissed the chief of the country's nuclear weapons program because of security breakdowns at the Los Alamos, N.M., laboratory and other facilities.

Linton Brooks said he would leave in two weeks to three weeks as head of the National Nuclear Security Administration, a post he held since May 2003.

Bodman said the nuclear agency under Brooks, a former ambassador and arms control negotiator, had not adequately fixed security problems. "I have decided it is time for new leadership at the NNSA," Bodman said.

Brooks told agency workers in a statement, "This is not a decision that I would have preferred ... (but) I accept the decision and you need to do likewise."

He characterized the demand for his resignation as "based on the principle of accountability that should govern all public service." ...

When it was learned that Brooks did not inform his superiors for eight months about the computer theft of data on 1,500 employees, Rep. Joe Barton last year sought Brooks' immediate dismissal.

"His departure is long overdue," Barton, R-Texas, said Thursday.

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