New DOE Dilemma: Sex-Mad Scientists

It's not just the scientists at Los Alamos who are out to embarrass Bill Richardson. It's the entire world. A General Accounting Office report ordered up by Reps. Tim Roemer (D-Ind.) and Benjamin Gilman (R-N.Y.) on the espionage risks of nuclear scientists traveling abroad reads like a steamy Bond novel, full of phone taps, hidden cameras and sexy scientists from "sensitive" nations like China, Russia, Pakistan and Israel. It's also a reminder that nuclear security is an all-too-human business, and should confirm to Richardson what he's been muttering to himself for months: He's got the worst political job in the world.

Being a nuclear scientist, though, sounds pretty exciting.

One admitted to "extensive sexual contact with women from the host country and another 'sensitive' country while on official foreign travel," the report says. "This included a prostitute, a waitress and two female employees at the facility where he was visiting."

Another scientist in a "sensitive" country realized his hotel phone was being bugged when he got off the phone with his wife, who happened to mention that she was going to play bingo. "A short time later in the hotel lounge, someone mentioned to the traveler the bingo trip that his wife had talked about," the report says. "The next day, another person asked, 'What is bingo?' "

There's more, like the female scientist who saw a flashing light in the smoke detector and heard "an unusual noise that sounded like an auto-focus camera lens as it adjusted" whenever she got undressed. Another scientist traveling in a foreign country checked his laptop — which had been padlocked — to find it had been entered with a "guest access" sign-in. Computer logs revealed that the same logon had been used the last time he was in that country.

The GAO isn't just worried about "sensitive" nations; it concluded that scientists traveling to countries like Britain and France are at risk too, and recommended that all travel requests by, scientists be reviewed by the DOE. Maybe every time a scientist wants to leave the country, he should have to take Richardson along.