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The University of California vice president who has overseen operations for the past year at Los Alamos, Lawrence Berkeley and Lawrence Livermore national laboratories has resigned. 

John McTague, the labs’ first vice president of laboratory management, announced his resignation Friday. The office was created in 2001 to give oversight to security, safety and accountability at the three national labs. 

McTague said he’s been planning to leave the UC system since February and that his decision has nothing to do with a recent FBI investigation that alleged two Los Alamos employees had illegally spent more than $50,000 using lab credit cards, The Albuquerque Journal reported. 

“We have been looking into the robustness of our purchasing system for some time now at all three of the labs,” he said.  

“I put into place an independent external investigation team to look at the whole issue of credit-card use and purchase orders.” 

McTague, 63, said once a replacement is found, he plans to return to teaching at UC Santa Barbara. 

He said he had been waiting to leave the labs until new management systems were in place. It was a “sensible time to leave,” since the systems became operational this fall, he said. 

Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said he is indebted to McTague for his role in improving the management of the three national laboratories during his tenure.