ABQjournal: Lab Whistle-Blower Beaten By Adam Rankin, Journal Staff Writer

A Los Alamos National Laboratory whistle-blower scheduled to meet with a congressional investigator this week was severely beaten early Sunday by a group of men he says told him to keep his mouth shut.

Tommy Hook, a 23-year LANL employee, has a broken jaw, a herniated disc in his back, broken teeth, can barely talk and fades in and out of consciousness, said his wife, Susan. He was assaulted outside Cheeks, a strip club on Santa Fe’s Cerrillos Road.

“When they were beating him up, they were telling him he needed to keep his mouth shut,” she said. ” ‘If you know what is good for you, you will keep your mouth shut,’ ” she said the attackers told her husband.

Hook has filed for whistle-blower protection with the Department of Energy over what he says was retaliation for information he provided on alleged financial irregularities at LANL. He also has a lawsuit alleging retaliation pending against the University of California-run lab.

Thugs for Silence — you’re with us or you’re with the enemy. mjh

edited 6/21/05