Action Alert #28: SCHEDULE UPDATE for inspection of programs and facilities, Los Alamos and Sandia national labs, August 2, 4, & 5.
July 19, 2004

Dear friends --

On July 1, we told you about our citizens’ fact-finding inspection and review of activities at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and Sandia National Laboratories (SNL). These plans are moving forward nicely, with some very important changes.

The Aug. 7 public tour and teach-in at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) has been CANCELLED BY LANL.

We invite you instead to two other events. The first is a public workshop on the weapons labs, including what you need to know to conduct YOUR OWN INSPECTIONS -- both at the laboratories as well as “virtual” inspections using the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and other tools. It will take place from 6:00 to 9:00 pm on Monday, Aug. 2 at the Unitarian Church in Santa Fe, 107 W. Barcelona Road.

The title of this workshop is “Normalizing Terror: Sandia, Los Alamos, and the Resurgence of the Nuclear Option. Its purpose is to empower citizens like you and give you the tools you need to help roll back the nuclear militarism that has impoverished New Mexico and the nation, endangered our democracy and ethical traditions, and undercut national and human security.

On Tuesday, Aug. 4, a more in-depth version of the same workshop will be offered in Albuquerque at Woodward Hall at the University of New Mexico’s main campus, concluding with a public discussion and debate about the new kinds of nuclear weapons now being promoted by the weapons laboratories (see detailed schedule below).

The second new event is an OPEN CITIZEN INSPECTION of Los Alamos on Thursday, Aug. 5. On that day, we encourage you and your friends to conduct your own fact-finding inspection. Some of us will begin at 1:00 pm in Technical Area 3. You may begin when you like, commencing at any LANL technical area you may choose that is open to you. Prior to the inspection, some of us will meet for lunch in the main LANL cafeteria at 11:45 am; all are welcome to join us there. All who wish may reconvene with us at 3:00 pm at a location to be determined at lunch that day for a PRESS CONFERENCE.

A “citizen’s guide to inspecting Los Alamos National Laboratory,” including all the maps and other information you will need to get started as well as to share what you learn with others, will be available at the workshops on Aug. 2 and 4.

In this inspection, each person or group of inspectors will not be under our – that is, Los Alamos Study Group -- supervision. Indeed, we will not know who all the inspectors are. But we do very much encourage you to come, and to bring your friends. We also strongly encourage anyone who visits the laboratory to follow any instructions that may be given to you by LANL security personnel.

We hope you will visit Los Alamos, learn more about its programs and facilities, speak directly with its staff and management, and do so as often as it takes to gain a clear understanding (given legitimate classification boundaries) of the nuclear weapons programs there. After your inspections, and indeed at any time, we urge you to join with us in communicating your growing understanding with our elected officials, who perhaps do not have as much time to review these programs as we do.

Updates, downloadable posters and flyers, and additional information both theoretical and practical will soon be available at http://www.lasg.org/inspections.htm (the page that is the target of this link is now under construction and should be completed by close of business on Monday, July 19). In the meantime, a detailed schedule is appended below. Call us at 505-265-1200 for further details any time.

If you have not already helped support this and subsequent inspections
financially, please consider doing so. A convenient and secure credit card donation portal is available on our web site, or you can send a check. All donations are fully tax-deductible and will be matched 1:1 by generous donors and so will go twice as far in providing sound public education and policy
intervention on nuclear weapons issues.

Finally, an important event not organized by the Study Group but occurring in the week are the public talk in Santa Fe by Bishop Thomas Gumbleton on Aug. 5 at 6:00 pm at the Santa Maria de la Paz Parish Hall, 11 College Way (just off Richards Avenue near the Santa Fe Community College), and the walk, prayer, and vigil for peace beginning at 7:00 am in Los Alamos on the morning of August 6. We encourage people of all faiths to attend these important and inspiring
events, in which nuclear weapons issues will no doubt be placed within an ethical framework based on justice and genuine human security and peace. For further details, see: http://www.paxchristinewmexico.org/Archdiocese/august6flyer.html

Sincerely,
Greg Mello
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CITIZEN INSPECTION SCHEDULE, AUGUST 2004

August 2
Citizen Workshop: Normalizing Terror: Los Alamos, Sandia, and the Resurgence of the Nuclear Option.” 6:00 to 9:00 pm, Unitarian Church of Santa Fe, 107 West Barcelona Road. A citizen’s guide to inspecting Los Alamos will be available at this workshop.

August 4
Citizen Workshop: Normalizing Terror: Los Alamos, Sandia, and the Resurgence of the Nuclear Option.” 10:00 am to 9:00 pm, Woodward Hall, UNM main campus.
•10 am - 12:30 pm: Virtual tour of U.S. nuclear weapons facilities and review of key nuclear doctrines.
•1:30 - 3:45 pm: Special briefing on Sandia and critical analysis of proposed new nuclear weapons.
•4:00 pm: Press conference
•7:00 pm: Public discussion, “Sandia and New Nuclear Weapons.”

August 5
Citizen Inspection: 1:00 pm, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Any Technical Area.

6:00 to 8:00 pm, Fuller Lodge, 2132 Central Ave., Los Alamos Panel Discussion: “Plutonium Pit Production in Los Alamos: Issues and Prospects.”