Anonymously contributed:
From LLNL News On Line:
NNSA 10th Anniversary celebration: Share your story
March 8, 2009
This month marks NNSA’s 10th Anniversary and NNSA is looking to employees to celebrate in style.
NNSA is working to highlight the agency’s accomplishments and success stories from the past decade, and is collecting stories from the people who work every day in support of the mission.
In 500 words or less, share some of your favorite memories, stories and accomplishments that you have experienced at NNSA over the last decade. The best essays will be featured during the upcoming 10-year Anniversary celebration.
Send your short essay and contact information to Jennifer Wagner [jennifer.wagner@nnsa.doe.gov] by Friday, March 12.
20 comments:
The "Not Necessarily Smart Administration":
Born of Wen Ho Lee's "mishandling" of classified data. He may or may not have leaked data, but the true damage of his actions was the creation of NNSA.
The average salary & benefit package for PX NNSA Feds is 150,000/yr. That’s about 50% of what the Contractor personnel make for wages & benefit.
Yes, there are some managers & engineers working for the PXSO but most are clerical. Way to go NNSA/Federal Gov. –
I know that’s not a lot for America’s best & brightest (nor should it be) but that ain’t bad for the high school grads at NNSA.
3/8 9:30 pm:
You are too timid in your assessment of Wen Ho Lee's actions. Most of the tapes he was proven to have written from the classified network at LANL were never found. The government's timidity in procecuting him because classified information was involved was spineless. Lee's transgressions went back to the 1980's. Don't take my word for it - read the Bellows report (or what was left of it after redaction): http://fas.org/irp/ops/ci/bellows/index.html
After the transition from UC to LLNS "it's just a job" where we give them eight for eight and its out the gate, doing time until such day we can leave it all behind, never to look back to miss the place.
Look at the trend.
AEC - Active support for weapons development. Brilliant ideas came out, many breakthroughs.
DOE - Passive support. Development slows markedly.
NNSA - Passive detraction. Development halts.
LANS/LLNS - Active detraction. Technology decays.
I'm not about to say that NNSA/LLNS are stupid. It takes too many people working together to make a disaster of this scale.
Bravo to all the politicians and beaurocrats. You've done a magnificent job of dismantling the nation's defenses. Your masters will be pleased.
Bravo to all the politicians and beaurocrats. You've done a magnificent job of dismantling the nation's defenses. Your masters will be pleased.
Amen.
This is not a 10th anniversary to celebrate! This is a time to sit down, review what's happened to the once 'crown jewel' national labs of the NNSA... and cry.
Earth to NNSA's hordes of clueless Grade-D bureaucrats...
...almost all of your best scientists at your national labs hate your guts and are constantly amazed at your level of managerial stupidity. Those who can swing it are bailing out of the NNSA labs as fast as they can for much better run and saner institutions.
I could say a lot more, but the moderators on this blog wouldn't post the cuss words.
NNSA has been a total disaster. Established by Congress as a semi-autonomous agency to secure the nation's nuclear assets, it was doomed from the beginning to be a dismal failure.
Semi-automous is like semi-pregnant. Either an agency is autonymous or it is not. NNSA is not (except for Navy Nukes, which were always autonymous). NNSA is subject to the same bureaucracy as the rest of DOE--same orders, same oversight by HSS.
Even worse, NNSA was staffed by the same retards that Congress criticized for DOE's failure to run the weapons complex. The only real change was office symbols and letterhead on stationery.
If you want to see something sad, find the recordings of NNSA'a first birthday. The NNSA Administrator's presentation of accomplishments during the first year was very embarrassing. They rented an office building and drew up an organization chart--just a chart, no organization.
No doubt that is why he left early.
Even worse, NNSA was staffed by the same retards that Congress criticized for DOE's failure to run the weapons complex. The only real change was office symbols and letterhead on stationery.
Ergo, same old results.
NNSA is doing a terrific job! Captain Tom D'Agostino is leading this agency to true greatness. Just look at the wonderful metrics, they are all undeniable. The improvements have been remarkable since this man took over at NNSA. Read the recent NNSA news releases for definitive proof of excellence in action.
But, even though the weapons complex has radically improved over the last decade (and esp. since D'Agostino took charge and ushered in our top-flight LLCs), don't expect an organization like NNSA to rest on their laurals. Centers of excellence know no limits. The next decade should be even better! I can hardly wait to see what NNSA has planned next for their research labs.
We are truly blessed. Bravo, NNSA! Superlatives are beyond me when I look at the results of this "can-do" government agency of their incredible cadre of managers.
Congress directed all national lab contracts to go out for competitive bidding. DOE elected not to try and encourage a "level" playing field or force "for profit" consortiums to be formed to bid on the DOE science labs. NNSA explicitly wanted UC out of its way of controlling LANL and LLNL. I know for a fact that NNSA managers were frustrated that they could not give direct orders to the labs,. They hated the way the labs always waved the UC flag in their faces as a way to side step direct NNSA involvement in day to day operations. UC always "flowed" NNSA's policy directives through UC's corporate policies first, then to the labs, in order to make sure they were consistent with those on the campuses. Since LANS/LLNS have no corporate policies of their own, we get direct NNSA control of life at the labs.
Bechtel hires another one of its corporate buddies for yet another lucrative LANL clean-up contract. I'm shocked, do you hear! Shocked!:
-----
Los Alamos lab awards $100 million contract
Associated Press - March 12, 2010 7:15 AM ET
LOS ALAMOS, N.M. (AP) - Los Alamos National Laboratory has chosen a Texas-based small business to do up to $100 million in waste transportation and disposal work.
TerranearPMC LLC, which has a Los Alamos office, will haul demolition debris and soil from lab cleanup projects.
The company will transport material in metal bins with waterproof covers.
Ah, the smell of freshly minted construction money at LANL... it's like a Bechtel wet dream come true!:
** Costs Climb for Los Alamos Research Site **
GSN, March 8, 2010
The anticipated cost of a planned nuclear research complex at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico has risen from $600 million to $4.5 billion, due in large part to an extended construction period and new plans to reinforce the site against earthquakes, the Los Alamos Monitor reported Thursday (see GSN, Oct. 8, 2009).
The Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement building was originally slated for completion in 2012 but is now not expected to become operational until 2022, said Rick Holmes, division leader for the planned facility.
“We made the building stiffer, which increased the amount of concrete. We will replace the soil at the bottom,” Holmes said, describing measures taken against possible seismic activity at the site.
LLNL gets NIF, LANL gets CMRR.
We are truly blessed. Bravo, NNSA! Superlatives are beyond me when I look at the results of this "can-do" government agency of their incredible cadre of managers.
March 14, 2010 4:01 PM
Not only are "superlatives" beyond you, reality is also beyond you. Nice try again, you are a master of ironical humor. Keep it up - you give a much-needed chuckle to these pages.
Hire a construction firm (Bechtel) to manager your "science" lab and what do you expect to happen?...
...Your "science" lab becomes little more than a bunch of expensive construction projects.
LLNL and LANL have become a sick joke under Bechtel's management. Why any good scientist would ever want to come work here is beyond me. Way to go, NNSA. You've finally managed to so completely mess up you 'crown jewel' science labs that I doubt they'll ever be able to recover.
"Ah, the smell of freshly minted construction money at LANL... "
I can't believe that they are stupid enough to construct earthquake proof buildings in NM while neglecting the sites in CA.
What is next, tsunami-proof barricades at the LANL gates, in case the ocean comes back?
There is a reason earthquake insurance is 10x cheaper in NM compared to CA.
What is next, tsunami-proof barricades at the LANL gates, in case the ocean comes back?
March 19, 2010 4:39 PM
Shush! The DFNSB might be listening!
"What is next, tsunami-proof barricades at the LANL gates, in case the ocean comes back?" (4:39 PM)
You obviously didn't watch the recent movie, "2012". The DFNSB probably takes that movie as the God-honest truth of what might happen next!
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