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Actually, they were following instructions. There were a few articles shortly after the incident that said that LANL had updated their procedures documentation, and somehow the LANL documentation specified 'organic' instead of 'inorganic':

From http://www.santafenewmexican.c...

A typographical error in a revision to a LANL policy manual for repackaging waste led to a wholesale shift from clay litter to the wheat-based variety.

The revision, approved by LANL, took effect Aug. 1, 2012, mere days after the governor's celebratory visit to Los Alamos, and explicitly directed waste packagers at the lab to "ENSURE an organic absorbent (kitty litter) is added to the waste" when packaging drums of nitrate salt.

"Does it seem strange that the procedure was revised to specifically require organic kitty litter to process nitrate salt drums?" Freeman, Nuclear Waste Partnership's chief nuclear engineer at WIPP, asked a colleague in a May 28 email.

Freeman went on to echo some of the possible reasons for the change bandied about in earlier emails, such as the off-putting dust or perfumed scents characteristic of clay litter. But his colleague, Mark Pearcy, a member of the team that reviews waste to ensure it is acceptable to be stored at WIPP, offered a surprising explanation.

"General consensus is that the 'organic' designation was a typo that wasn't caught," he wrote, implying that the directions should have called for inorganic litter.

Officials at LANL declined to comment about whether a typographical error led to the switch to organic kitty litter.

"To get an idea of how strong those fields are, if you were 1,000 miles away, they could rip the iron from your blood," Palmer said, pausing briefly. "These things are best studied from a distance," he added. http://www.santafenewmexican.com/HealthandScience/LANL-scientists-seek-magnetars--secrets

I'm still not convinced that this allows information to travel faster than light.

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/HealthandScience/LANL_scientist_makes_radio_waves_travel_faster_than_light

Einstein predicted that particles and information can't travel faster than the speed of light â" but phenomenon like radio waves? That's a different story, said Singleton, a Los Alamos National Laboratory Fellow.

Singleton has created a gadget that abuses radio waves so severely that they finally give in and travel faster than light.

He actually compares it to the laser pointer on the moon thought experiment

"If you take a laser and shine it on the moon and swing it rather gently, for example, the spot on the moon travels faster than the speed of light," Singleton said. "If an effect can do that, it makes you wonder if you can do things with light to get the equivalent of a sonic boom."

That's what the faster-than-light radio waves â" more scientifically known as superluminal transmissions â" do. They're the light version of a sonic boom, he said.

"When something travels faster than its own wave speed you get a very large disturbance," Singleton said. "And these powerful signals that result, well, this would be how E.T., if he were out there, would likely try to communicate with us."

If Einstein were still alive, he probably wouldn't be all that surprised by the discovery, Perez said, even if it does seem on the surface to conflict with some of his theories.

Singleton doesn't claim it's an ansible - i.e. a device that can send information faster than light speed.

But NM does really have a high incidence of DWI. Partly because distances are enormous and there are no alternatives to driving: no bus service, no taxis, pretty much no public transportation of any kind. Partly because population density is fairly low: this results in a low probability of any given drunk-driving session resulting in a crash, so stupid people think "hey, I've driven drunk before and had no problems, I'll just keep doing it". A large part of the problem is that penalties are nearly nonexistent. A mild slap on the wrist.

The current legislature has just passed a measure increasing penalties: you might get 2-3 years for your seventh conviction. Whoa, that will sure get the drunks off the road! Oh, incidentally, the rules aren't always too well enforced.

But NM does really have a high incidence of DWI. Partly because distances are enormous and there are no alternatives to driving: no bus service, no taxis, pretty much no public transportation of any kind. Partly because population density is fairly low: this results in a low probability of any given drunk-driving session resulting in a crash, so stupid people think "hey, I've driven drunk before and had no problems, I'll just keep doing it". A large part of the problem is that penalties are nearly nonexistent. A mild slap on the wrist.

The current legislature has just passed a measure increasing penalties: you might get 2-3 years for your seventh conviction. Whoa, that will sure get the drunks off the road! Oh, incidentally, the rules aren't always too well enforced.

I knew this was coming, but hoped it wouldn't. Folks, its time to realize that what is going on has nothing to do with fighting terrorism. We are witnessing the rapid deployment of a full-scale police state, the likes of which has never been possible in human history. All the signs and seals are there.

I wish all slashdot readers the best of luck. Freedom was great while it lasted. Enjoy it while you still can. May we all survive the coming tragedies and meet on the other side alive and free.

Most of the radioactive material used had a very short half life, but there are traces of the nasty stuff. A more complete version of the story is here.