Letter to George Knapp from Los Alamos National Laboratory

In 1993, investigative reporter George Knapp wrote to Los Alamos National Laboratory asking about Bob Lazar’s claimed employment there. This is the lab’s reply, from public-information specialist Diane Banegas.

Los Alamos National Laboratory
August 5, 1993

Mr. George Knapp
Altamira Communications Group
601 S Rancho, Suite C-26
Las Vegas, NV 89106

Dear George,

In response to your letter of July 23 about Robert Lazar, we have no personnel records on him. Our personnel people tell me that we only archive records of Los Alamos employees, that is, those of us who are employed by the University of California, which manages the lab for the Department of Energy. All personnel records of Mr. Lazar would be held by the contractor, in this case Kirk Mayer. It is not unusual that Los Alamos has no records on Lazar.

In answer to your questions about Tech 3 positions, one of our personnel representatives tell me that Tech 3 positions in 1982 did not require a four year college degree. At most, a two year technical degree or comparable work experience would have been required. Mr. Lazar would have possessed more formal education than the job required. However, since we have no records on him, it is impossible to verify that. How about checking with the college or university Lazar claims to have attended? Their records should verify attendance and any degrees received.

The personnel representative said a Tech 3 position was somewhere between a journeyman technician and a senior technician.

The same personnel representative told me all Tech 3’s employed at the lab in 1982 would have needed a Q clearance. However, this is not proof that he actually received one. He may have quit before he was cleared since the clearance process typically begins after an employee’s start date, or he may have been denied a clearance. According to our security people, whether or not someone was granted a Q clearance is sensitive information and generally not released to someone other than the employee. Mr. Lazar might still have documents regarding his clearance, and could request documentation from the Lab to prove his claims.

I hope this information will be of use to you.

Sincerely,

Diane Banegas
Public Information Specialist