SCIENTIST SENTENCED TO PRISON FOR ATOMIC ENERGY ACT VIOLATIONS

FROM:  U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT 
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
Former Los Alamos National Laboratory Scientist Sentenced to Prison for Atomic Energy Act Violations

Assistant Attorney General for National Security John P. Carlin, U.S. Attorney Damon P. Martinez for the District of New Mexico, Assistant Director Randall C. Coleman of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division and Special Agent in Charge Carol K.O. Lee of the FBI’s Albuquerque Division announced that Pedro Leonardo Mascheroni, a scientist formerly employed at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), was sentenced this morning for Atomic Energy Act and other violations relating to his communication of classified nuclear weapons data to a person he believed to be a Venezuelan government official.

Mascheroni, 79, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Argentina, was sentenced in Albuquerque, New Mexico, by U.S. District Judge William P. Johnson to 60 months in federal prison followed by the three years of supervised release.  His wife, Marjorie Roxby Mascheroni, 71, previously was sentenced in August 2014 to a year and a day of imprisonment followed by three years of supervised release for her conviction on conspiracy and false statement charges.

“The public trusts that the government will do all it can to safeguard Restricted Data from being unlawfully transmitted to foreign nations not entitled to receive it,” said Assistant Attorney General Carlin.  “We simply cannot allow people to violate their pledge to protect the classified nuclear weapons data with which they are entrusted.  Today’s sentencing should leave no doubt that counterespionage investigations remain one of our most powerful tools to protect our national security.  I thank the many people who worked to bring these convictions to fruition.”

“Our laws are designed to prevent ‘Restricted Data’ from falling into the wrong hands because of the potential harm to our national security,” said U.S. Attorney Martinez.  “Those who work at our country’s national laboratories are charged with safeguarding that sensitive information, and we must and will vigorously prosecute anyone who compromises our nation’s nuclear secrets for profit.  I commend the many agents, analysts and prosecutors who worked tirelessly to bring about the convictions in this case.  I also thank the Los Alamos National Laboratory for cooperating fully in the investigation and prosecution of this case.”

“This case demonstrates the consequences that result when those charged with protecting our nation’s secrets violate the trust placed in them by the American people,” said Assistant Director Coleman.  “Safeguarding classified material is vital to the public interest, and the FBI will continue to hold accountable those who knowingly and willfully threaten the national security of the United States through the unauthorized disclosure of protected information.”

“America trusts those who work with our country's classified information to keep it away from those who would harm us.  Anyone who betrays that trust for his own gain puts our nation's security up for auction, and the price for us all could be very high indeed,” said Special Agent in Charge Lee.  “Since World War II, the FBI has worked tirelessly to protect U.S. nuclear weapons data, and we are proud of our investigation in this case.”

Mascheroni, a Ph.D. physicist, worked as a scientist at LANL from 1979 to 1988 and held a security clearance that allowed him access to certain classified information, including “Restricted Data.”  Roxby Mascheroni worked at LANL between 1981 and 2010, where her duties included technical writing and editing.  She also held a security clearance at LANL that allowed her access to certain classified information, including “Restricted Data.”  As defined under the Atomic Energy Act, “Restricted Data” is classified information concerning the design, manufacture or use of atomic weapons; the production of special nuclear material; or the use of special nuclear material in the production of energy.

Mascheroni and Roxby Mascheroni were indicted in September 2010 and charged with conspiracy to communicate and communicating Restricted Data to an individual with the intent to secure an advantage to a foreign nation, as well as conspiracy to convey and conveying classified information.  The indictment also charged Mascheroni with concealing and retaining U.S. records with the intent to convert them to his own use and gain, and both defendants with making false statements.

Mascheroni pleaded guilty in June 2013, to counts seven and eight of the indictment, charging him with conversion of government property and retention of U.S. records, and counts 10 through 15, charging him with making false statements.  Mascheroni also pleaded guilty to a felony information charging him with two counts of communication of Restricted Data and one count of retention of national defense information.

In entering his guilty plea, Mascheroni admitted that in November 2008 and July 2009, he unlawfully communicated Restricted Data to another individual with reason to believe that the data would be utilized to secure an advantage to Venezuela.  He also admitted unlawfully converting Department of Energy information to his own use and selling the information in November 2008 and July 2009, and failing to deliver classified information relating to the United States’ national defense to appropriate authorities and instead unlawfully retaining the information in his home.  Finally, Mascheroni admitted making materially false statements to the FBI when he was interviewed in October 2009.

Roxby Mascheroni pleaded guilty in June 2014, to count six of the indictment, charging her with conspiracy, and counts 16 through 22, charging her with making false statements.  She also pleaded guilty to a felony information charging her with conspiracy to communicate Restricted Data.  Roxby Mascheroni admitted that between October 2007 and October 2009, she conspired with Mascheroni to convey Restricted Data belonging to the United States to another person with reason to believe that the information would be used to secure an advantage to Venezuela.  She also admitted making materially false statements to the FBI when she was interviewed in October 2009.

The indictment in this case did not allege that the government of Venezuela or anyone acting on its behalf sought or was passed any classified information, nor did it charge any Venezuelan government officials or anyone acting on their behalf with wrongdoing.  The indictment also did not allege any wrongdoing by other individuals working at LANL.

This investigation was conducted by the FBI’s Albuquerque Division with assistance from the Department of Energy and LANL.  The prosecution was handled by Senior Counsel Kathleen Kedian and Trial Attorney David Recker of the Counterespionage Section of the Justice Department’s National Security Division and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Fred J. Federici, Dean Tuckman and Holland S. Kastrin of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Mexico.

LOS ALAMOS SCIENTIST TO DISCUSS IF BEHAVIOR IS PRODUCT OF DNA OR ENVIRONMENT

Photo Caption: Cells in the human body contains strands of DNA nearly 10 feet long that look like this and are packed into cellular sacks less than a millionth of an inch in diameter.  Credit:  LANL

FROM:  LOS ALAMOS NATIONAL LABORATORY

Lab’s Frontiers in Science lectures focus on epigenetics

Is behavior hardwired by DNA or a product of environment?

LOS ALAMOS, N.M., August 7, 2013—Los Alamos National Laboratory scientist Karissa Sanbonmatsu, will discuss epigenetics in a series of Frontiers in Science lectures beginning Tuesday, Aug. 13, at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science in Albuquerque.

The 7 p.m. talk, titled “Nature, Nurture or Neither: The New Science of Epigenetics,” focuses on the age-old question of “nature versus nurture,” and also looks at how social interactions and environmental factors play a role in programming your DNA.

“Over the past decade, epigenetics research has and continues to unveil a whole new kind of biological circuitry,” Sanbonmatsu said. “The act of a mother nurturing or not nurturing her baby programs DNA; so literally, nurture directly affects nature in a way that nature and nurture are fused together.”

The new science of epigenetics studies how DNA is reprogrammed at the molecular level. DNA is often considered the blueprint of life, however, environmental factors and social interactions during formative years can affect genes for more than three generations. This heritable switching is called “epigenetics” and has been associated with diet, exercise, mate preference, depression, autism, eating disorders and response to abuse.

Sanbonmatsu, of Los Alamos’ Theoretical Biology and Biophysics Group, will discuss the new science of epigenetics and how it is related to a wide range of biological phenomena. Her research involves how DNA can be reprogrammed throughout life and how the missing link could be RNA molecules.

“We have been lucky enough to land on the cutting edge of this field, in the area of long non-coding RNAs, which has absolutely exploded in the last three years,” Sanbonmatsu said. “With many suggesting that the number of long non-coding RNAs may rival the number of proteins, the landscape of molecular biology may look entirely different ten years from now."

These Frontiers in Science lectures all begin at 7 p.m., at the following locations:

Tuesday, Aug. 13, New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, 1801 Mountain Road NW, Albuquerque

Thursday, Aug. 15, Nick L. Salazar Center for the Arts, Northern New Mexico College, 921 Paseo de Oñate, Española

Tuesday, Aug. 20, Duane W. Smith Auditorium, Los Alamos High School, Los Alamos

Thursday, Aug. 22, James A. Little Theater, New Mexico School for the Deaf, 1060 Cerrillos Road, Santa Fe.

Sponsored by the Fellows of Los Alamos National Laboratory, the Frontiers in Science lecture series is intended to increase local public awareness of the diversity of science and engineering research at the Laboratory.