GovernmentExecutive.com

Two directors at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico have resigned following accusations of corruption and missing equipment, officials said Thursday.

The New York Times reported that Director John Browne resigned on Dec. 23 after heading the nuclear weapons laboratory since November 1997. Joseph Salgado, the laboratory's principal deputy director, also resigned.

George Nanos, a retired Navy vice admiral who is a deputy associate director at Los Alamos, will become interim director while the University of California looks for a permanent replacement. The university currently runs Los Alamos under a federal contract most recently renewed for five years in January 2001.

Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, however, said in a Dec. 24 letter that "taken together, these problems have called into question the University of California's ability to run the Los Alamos National Laboratory."

In an interview with the Associated Press, Browne said allegations of mismanagement have cost him the credibility needed to run the lab effectively.

"The controversy was so strong and so critical of management that I personally thought the best thing for me to do was resign and to have the university come in and take it to the next level of performance," he said.