Contributed by: anonymous
In case you missed it here’s a good article recently in the Wall Street Journal:
How to Protect Our Nuclear Deterrent
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704152804574628344282735008.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Some rehash of the JASON study & reiteration of the degradation of our National Labs.
“The United States must continue to attract, develop and retain the outstanding scientists, engineers, designers and technicians we will need to maintain our nuclear arsenal, whatever its size, for as long as the nation's security requires it.”
“The study team said it was "concerned that this expertise is threatened by lack of program stability, perceived lack of mission importance, and degradation of the work environment."
The 2010 Nuclear Posture Review will be released soon & will generate renewed interest in the issues cited in the WSJ article. The tragic death of Frank Young comes at a time when, imo, we most need a renewed push on the “degradation of the work environment” at LANL & LLNL.
Perhaps it will not matter but, I feel there are many important people who will be interested in the 2010 NPR & what is being stated by GEORGE P. SHULTZ, WILLIAM J. PERRY, HENRY A. KISSINGER, & SAM NUNN.
I’m making sure members of Congress who represent me hear what I have to say.
We can't quit now!
6 comments:
I'm not quitting. But then again, maybe the next layoff will get me.
As to which Congressman / Senator might want to carry the flag of keeping the rust off the labs, that is a 64 thousand dollar question. Tauscher was California's best champion, and she was opposed to the RRW. When Feinstein was here for the NIF opening, she reminded us the RRW was dead. I believe that Boxer and Pelosi would be happy to see LLNL close.
Perhaps Garamendi will take up our cause, but without the big bad Red Bear growling at the door, the need (or perceived need if you wish) to keep a finely sharpened sword in good shape is not the pressing issue it was during the height of the cold war.
In these days, sword making is not popular. Those that have mastered the art are dying off. If you don't have the apprentice at hand to teach, re-learning the craft will be difficult, costly and might not available when needed.
To paraphrase a line I've seen stated about guns:
We'll probably never NEED a nuclear weapon.
I hope we never do.
But IF we do, we will need it worse than anything we've ever needed in our lives.
You cannot MAKE congress or anyone else in the government listen to you. They don't care about you, don't care about the nation, and certainly don't care about the state of weapons complex.
Reports are coming out today that NASA's funding for the Constellation program will be zero'd out in favor of private contractors doing manned launches. How big a step from that to just asking the Russians and Chinese to make our nukes for us too - they make everything else anyway.
"... and degradation of the work environment." (WSJ)
The report discussed in this WSJ news article sure got that one right!
Unfortunately, there are have been several official reports over the last year that clearly document the huge decline in staff morale at the NNSA science labs and the extreme risk aversion and high costs being created by a dysfunctional NNSA (see DoD report, Stimson Center report, etc).
Even with all these reports, no action has been taken to rectify this situation. All we hear from Congress and the Administration is "go bring me another rock (i.e., report)!"
I doubt this situation will change.
Thief said:
Hell yes we can!
So what! This is the same e-mail that Bruce Goodwin circulated about two weeks ago! (acronymed expletive removed by scooby) More past their "sell by" date pols and policy monkeys weighing in on matters best dealt with a decade ago!
The work culture at LLNL (and apparently LANL and the other weapons labs) has been so corrupted by the interaction between the worst of DOE/NNSA and the "stay out of trouble at all costs" LLNL/Careerist bureaucracy that there really is no hope for ever getting back to an environment where "real" work is done! Liability issues won't permit it. Plenty of time to fill with meetings though, "Work Control" (on a side note - anybody else think that the work control policy was written by a woman or a frighteningly effeminate man? The steps involved read a lot like the roundly mocked Antioch College sex contract. Remember that one - "Sexual Offense Prevention Policy." Under this policy, consent for sexual behavior must be "(a) verbal, (b) mutual, and (c) reiterated for every new level of sexual behavior (work)." (cuss word removed by scooby) , just like our work control meetings....a whole bunch of "mutual" and "consensual"....in an environment that is reassuring and welcoming for all! And I'm sure that just like the poor frustrated students at Antioch we never seem to come to any sort of climax either! I guess its because we need to get signatures for everything.) Wow! Sorry about the tangent! I do ramble on at times!
Anyway I wouldn't hang your hat on this one! There isn't any more money coming and I'm sure that they would just piss it anyway!
Thief:
I took out some expletives from your comment. Yes, even acronymed expletives are not allowed on this BLOG. Decency first!
I normally delete the whole comment but because it was very funny, I decided not to.
Scoob,
Never a need to explain or justify what you edit on your own blog!
Thanks for providing a place to rant!
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