Los Alamos: Morale at an All Time Low

[Pimander]

According to George Mason University professor of anthropology and sociology Hugh Gusterson, who has studied America's nuclear weapons scientists since the 1980s, morale at Los Alamos is the worst it has ever been in the lab's seven-decade history. Its ability to function as an institution and to superintend the nuclear stockpile has been substantially eroded, he writes.

SOURCE:http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111101122358.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29

Gusterson is an expert on Nuclear culture.  He believes that interference from politicians is to blame for a lowering of morale and the effectiveness of the organisation.  Everything from job losses to a drop in output of peer reviewed publications are discussed.

How worrying is it that politics can influence such a sensitive area of research?