The recent security lapse at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) has inspired congressional critics to pipe up once again.

"No matter how many times you rearrange, re-design, retire or replace the deck chairs, Los Alamos is still the Titanic," representative Ed Markey told CBS News. "Superficial attempts to demonstrate that there is any accountability at the lab will yield no useful results until the systemic and long-standing security failures associated with both management and lab culture are fixed."

By now, most of you have heard about the lab worker who took classified documents home with her on thumb drives. The files were accidentally discovered during a drug raid on the worker's trailer.

Congress has been giving LANL a hard time for years, prompting a recent management change. A consortium made up of military contractors and the University of California now runs LANL, ending UC's sole ownership of the nuclear facility. ®

Related stories

• Cybersecurity holes exposed in Los Alamos nuke lab (29 September 2008)
• Congressmen flaunt Los Alamos Lab bashing comedy routines (2 February 2007)
• Los Alamos docs turn up in meth lab bust (25 October 2006)
• Job cuts loom at Los Alamos Lab (2 October 2006)
• El Reg saves Los Alamos lab web site from hooligans (26 July 2006)
• Los Alamos bets on 'creativity' to handle $200m of extra costs (24 July 2006)
• Costs swell at America's most infamous weapons lab (12 July 2006)