Friday, February 1, 2013
22 comments:
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Anonymous said...
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His summary is the first pass of the legacy battle. It will be scrutinized as part of O'bama Part 1 legacy. That is, if the US avoids NK and Iranian nuclear wrath long enough to enjoy a history.
You get a hint in the details of his apologia why this laureated micro manager was not offered the Berkeley campus chancellor position.
What do I remember him for? Two years of salary freeze that sent me into retirement $5000 per year poorer.
Nice work, Steve. Happy returns.
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2/01/2013 5:33 PM
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Anonymous said...
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A very instructive letter indeed. On the one hand, he sounds pretty intelligent (at least compared to some of LANL and NNSA managers). He also identifies several key problems with DOE. In particular, he more or less openly states that "the political leadership and highest levels of career managers" in the DOE complex do not "have the intellectual curiosity and wisdom to learn from the people who report[] to them". So true at LANL!
On the other hand, his complete neglect of the weapons labs, which make up a very significant part of the DOE complex, is simply shocking. As is his unconcern with fundamental physics: the nuclear and high energy programs, for example, suffered mightily under him.
He's really a gadget man with a big ego to boot, who imagined himself to be a sort-of Visionary Entrepreneur (gambling with taxpayer money, one might add). That was not in the job description, Dr. Chu! You were entrusted with the responsibilities for the US weapons complex and with the stewardship of the fundamental science. Those roles, in fact, were in the job description, and you've largely failed in both. -
2/01/2013 10:21 PM
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Anonymous said...
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Imo, this again makes the case for why the NWC should not be under DOE/NNSA oversight.
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2/02/2013 3:59 AM
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Anonymous said...
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Chu and McMillan have a common trait that they hire some of the most unqualified people to work directly for them.
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2/02/2013 6:28 AM
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Anonymous said...
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He's really a gadget man with a big ego to boot, who imagined himself to be a sort-of Visionary Entrepreneur (gambling with taxpayer money, one might add).
Even if one accepts for a moment that a highly bureaucratic government agency, of which DOE is a prime example, can somehow be an effective entrepreneur in gadgets and various forms of renewable energy, what Chu did to fundamental research is inexcusable. Of all possible programs in the government, why did fundamental research have to pay for Chu's venture capitalist games?
And, yes, his neglect of the NW complex is appalling and a dereliction of duty. It's like making a guy who really likes farming the head of Intel. "Don't tell me about your processors, my focus as CEO is on new methods of tilling and fertilizing midwestern soil." -
2/02/2013 10:26 AM
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Anonymous said...
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He visited Los Alamos for all of about an hour several years ago and it was clear that he couldn't wait to leave the place. Here never came back. Chu had absolutely no interest in the nuclear weapons complex his department overseas.
Good riddance! He was an arrogant jerk who seemed to only want to support his former "home" lab in Berkeley, LBL. His famous Noble prize didn't equip him to be a good steward of the massive and overgrown DOE bureaucracy.
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2/02/2013 10:42 AM
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Anonymous said...
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Chu had a passion for the energy mission of DOE. It's just from a budget perspective, Department of Energy should have Energy in a smaller font.
I'd say Chu did support science, but he was aiming towards some different pockets of science that didn't always overlap with the usual constituencies of the Office of Science. -
2/02/2013 10:53 AM
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Anonymous said...
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His resignation letter will go down as one of the longest in history, whereas his leadership of the NWC could be summed up in a single word 'neglect'.
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2/02/2013 11:28 AM
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Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...
Imo, this again makes the case for why the NWC should not be under DOE/NNSA oversight.
February 2, 2013 at 3:59 AM
So if you don't think the NWC should be under DOE/NNSA, who should they be under? NNSA may not be great, but the other options are probably worse.
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2/02/2013 2:06 PM
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Anonymous said...
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“NNSA may not be great, but the other options are probably worse.”
If NNSA is the best of the options the future of the NWC is likely dismal, imo. -
2/02/2013 7:09 PM
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Anonymous said...
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It's not clear what Chu accomplished. Let's see, he dumped Yucca Mountain on day-one and never developed an option for permanent storage of high-level nuclear waste, the Nuclear Weapon Complete is four years older since he became Energy Secretary and is in complete disarray, NIF is barely floating without an oar or rudder, and there is still no National Energy Program or Policy. What did Chu accomplish? Anyone?
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2/03/2013 9:55 AM
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Anonymous said...
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What did Chu accomplish? Anyone?
February 3, 2013 at 9:55 AM
From a read of his chest-thumping letter, not much of substance. I really liked the part where he claims to have made his own decision to leave, rather than having been asked to resign! -
2/03/2013 10:18 AM
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Anonymous said...
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Chu said...
“NNSA may not be great, but the other options are probably worse.”
Dude's Delusional!!! -
2/03/2013 11:06 AM
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Anonymous said...
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NNSA is part of the problem. The bloated labs is the other part of the problem. You can fix the problem without fixing both. NNSA does not have as much power as you think, in the direction of the lab. The labs are full of malignant aholes who go around NNSA to congress to lie and manipulate. Let defense have a whack at the labs. And oh by the way give them more oversight powes, they'll need it.
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2/04/2013 12:26 AM
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Anonymous said...
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Most of the lab management complaints I hear about NNSA allege 'micromanagement'; the DoD would exercise more oversight, and those complaints would only increase.
And, is the DoD really more competent than NNSA? - given that the Air Force (a few years ago) flew live nukes between Minot and Barksdale AFB when they thought they were trainers, and sent RV fuzes to Taiwan thinking they were batteries? Not saying that NNSA is doing well, in fact they are not - just saying that DoD oversight would probably generate even more compliants by lab managmenent. -
2/04/2013 7:54 AM
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Anonymous said...
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Those of you who wish for DOD to take over the labs should work at a DOD lab for few months, if you could take it!
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2/04/2013 3:35 PM
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Anonymous said...
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Those of you who wish for DOD to take over the labs should work at a DOD lab for few months, if you could take it!
February 4, 2013 at 3:35 PM
Yeah right, DoD, home of the $640 toilet seat. Now that's cost effectiveness. -
2/04/2013 5:31 PM
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Anonymous said...
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Energy Secretary Chu to Step Down
Thank God! Hallelujah Amen! -
2/04/2013 7:39 PM
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Anonymous said...
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A plain, simply $640 DoD toilet seat would be a big improvement over the NNSA's "Seat that Grips" toilet with rubberized, non-slip cover containing embedded anti-bacterial agents, fuzzy seat warmer, imprinted safety messages around the toilet bowl and built-in LCD screen with on-line training on "How to Wipe".... all for only $640,000 per seat.
Such an NNSA bargain!
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2/04/2013 10:42 PM
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Anonymous said...
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Did Chu mentions one word about Yucca Mountain in his grandiose "closure" speech. He has left this literally "hanging in the breeze". What an absolute disaster this is!
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2/05/2013 2:49 AM
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Anonymous said...
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That's one thing about Chu, he worked the hell out of all the "little things" and let all the "big things (e.g. Nuclear Weapons, National Energy Policy, High-level Nuclear Waste Storage) go to hell.
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2/05/2013 4:58 PM
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Anonymous said...
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Secretary Chu, a little boy sent to do a man's job.
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2/07/2013 12:23 AM
By Matthew Daly / The Associated Press on Fri, Feb 1, 2013
http://www.abqjournal.com/main/2013/02/01/abqnewsseeker/breaking-energy-secretary-chu-to-step-down.html