Friday, January 31, 2014
Thought on Knapp's All-Hands?
I thought he was surprisingly open and forthcoming on a lot of things. And as much as I liked Parney, I have to give kudos to Knapp for doing one important thing that Parney should have done long ago: kill off the nonsensical LIFE effort. Would like to hear what others think about Knapp's presentation.
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87 comments:
A perfectly fine all-hands talk. He dispensed the essential information, and did it in a somewhat disarming way.
But for somebody who is seeking to become the director, I would have expected more discussion of where we're going (not just where we are).
But for somebody who is seeking to become the director, I would have expected more discussion of where we're going (not just where we are).
The institution didn't have a budget for 5 years. We have another debt ceiling discussion in a month. The countries finances are in shambles.
....and you want the interim lab director to tell us where were going?
Good luck with that!
He killed LIFE???? Really???? (I did not attend) What was the rationale?
Good all-hands. Knapp laid things out clearly. I appreciated that.
We won't really know what kind of Dir he is until the chips are down.
But this was a good start.
No retroactive CIP that DOE & NNSA say give to the employees?
There are plenty of places to cut spending, from the operating budget, for needed cash.
Out of the employee's pocket seems both odd & sends a message.
The budget's "emergency surplus" needs to be replenished.
Using part of the employee cip is a convenient way to do so.
NIF put us in this fiscal position, they should ante up to replenish the coffers.
Heresy, I know. We have to carry those guys on our backs until we all die together.
I don't understand why LIFE was cancelled. Scientific breakeven was obtained on NIF. Also, wasn't there interest from venture capitalists to put several billions of dollars into LIFE. Management has touted this on several occasions. What happened?
Parney had killed off LIFE. He couldn't do it suddenly because of all the people it would have immediately thrown on to the EBA list, and because the BoG wouldn't let him. But he had taken it down to about a third of where it was under Miller, and had made it clear to Ed and Atherton that it was headed to a very low level of effort. Parney also killed off any discussions with "investors." part of the bargain for getting Ed out the door was to let him try to get LIFE money in the door, but under Parney's ground rules.
I was on official travel when Knapp's meeting occurred. So am I hearing it correct that the CIP is going to be saved for emergency operating funds?
Are we in that much dire straits? I like my job here but my main complaint about the lab is the whole PA process and career development. It stinks and you people in management need to fix it. Don't tout it and then not deliver.
Knapp said the retroactive portion of the CIP (4 or 5 months worth) might be used to shore up the lab's financial position.
Why is there a retroactive part anyways?
How long does it take a management company to hand out a pay raise.
"... It stinks and you people in management need to fix it. Don't tout it and then not deliver..."
Every year they have to tout it delivery or not, else part of their purpose disappears, and they would have to count on something other than this function to justify their high pay and rank. The fire station bell must ring, even for false alarms.
How long does it take a management company to hand out a pay raise.
January 31, 2014 at 7:34 PM
Either you haven't been around very long or you haven't been paying attention. Pay increases for lab staff are "authorized" by DOE/NNSA but the money must come from current year operating budget. There is no extra money made available for any pay raises.
So you might want to consider whether it is better to have no raises, or to have some people laid off while others get raises.
Well that's quite a step, killing LIFE. It should never have been more than a vague futuristic idea with minimal to no funding. Instead, it turned into a poster child for the insanity of the NIF management, some of whom remain right where they have been and still crazy. But it is a bold step, kudos to Knapp for cutting losses and even more embarrassment, even if Parney got it started.
Knapp said the retroactive portion of the CIP (4 or 5 months worth) ...
He said the CIP would be implemented in April, so retroactive part would be 3 months, Jan - Mar.
And he's just keeping options open.
Cut overhead expenses elsewhere as an option.
Plenty of examples of unneeded expenditures.
LIFE had no chance of bringing in VC funding after the alpha heating milestone failure and all that followed. And even if they got ignition, how much does someone have to pay to get undilutable rights to IP? Atleast 30 years at a billion per year of funding to push development? The problem with all the hype about private sector funding is that LLNL can't give back anything in return. No IP rights, no interest payments, nothing. So any notion that industry is clamoring to throw money at NIF is really just fantasy and wishful thinking.
LIFE should be abolished until NIF works and even then you'd still have to prove you can do 10 shots a second before funding should be considered. If Congress is smart they'll squish LIFE before it ever gets started and audit LLNL to assure no funds are being diverted behind the scenes to fund it. My bet is there's a lot of BS going on behind the scenes that should not .
How much does it cost to create a support PAD?
DOE, NNSA, and LLNS are aware the cip comes out of operating funds.
Employee pay raises are part of those operating expenses.
Venture capitalists throw money at selected efforts that have a good chance of paying off and making them a huge amount of money, and it needs to be huge to offset the reality that most of the bets will pay nothing. It is driven by profit, and it is inconceivable that there is any profit in laser fusion, certainly not that would be worth the enormous risk and expense even if the NIC had succeeded. The only hope would be a sugar daddy type, Bill Gates dumps 20 billion into a hopeless venture just because his ego drives him to do it. But the amount of money is so huge that even Bill Gates would blink many times. There might be a bit of payback for corporate sponsors, like "Oracle Coliseum", but their interest would evaporate long before they contributed anything significant. It is a waste of taxpayer resources to even pursue this, which is why LIFE needed to die.
DOE, NNSA, and LLNS are aware the cip comes out of operating funds.
Employee pay raises are part of those operating expenses.
February 1, 2014 at 7:25 AM
Sorry, when was the last time you saw a multi-year funding proposal that included annual pay raises for employees?
When was the last time there was a multi year funding proposal for a new support PAD?
"LIFE should be abolished until NIF works and even then you'd still have to prove you can do 10 shots a second before funding should be considered. "--------------------
The big problem with LIFE that struck me wasn't even technical, although the claim of 10-20 shots per second did seem pretty wild. The big problem had to do with the basic economics of LIFE. A shot generating 50MJ of energy works out to about a dollar's worth of electricity after taking into account the likely efficiencies. That means for this power generation scheme to make any sense at all, the cost of each capsule-hohlraum assembly, including any associated costs such as inspection and filling, has to be much less than a dollar. I think that the LIFE people were claiming about 25 cents each was possible, which is a ridiculous claim. You can't even buy something as relatively simple as precision ceramic ball bearings for 25 cents each, a fact that I'm sure the number-crunching venture capitalists would notice. For LIFE to claim that they could mass-produce high-precision capsules INCLUDING their associated high-precision hohlraum for 25 cents each is the stuff of fantasy.
DOE and NNSA always do the CIPs annually (never multi year). This year they said "yes".
Why is it considered absurd for a company to give its employees their pay raise from that company's operating funds?
Is LLNS suppose to depend on the kindness of strangers to fund their employees raises?
I remember a conference in the early 90s where a long-gone laser scientist claimed he could make x-ray laser beams for a dollar a shot. He was laughed out of the room. People who believe this stuff with almost religious fervor just don't want to be bothered by the little details.
"...For LIFE to claim that they could mass-produce high-precision capsules INCLUDING their associated high-precision hohlraum for 25 cents each is the stuff of fantasy..."
Hey hey. Are you trying to cast doubt on the viability of LIFE with cold and quantitative facts? Hollywood Ed is going to ride in on his pink unicorn and straighten you out.
Unsolicited comments and dissension are not acceptable.
Is LLNS suppose to depend on the kindness of strangers to fund their employees raises?
In a nutshell, yes. Operating funds are the financial resources voted by Congress and awarded by Federal agencies. Employee salaries, and increases to those salaries, come out of those funds. The management fee also comes out of those funds. If you have some fantasy that raises will come out of the management fee, then please write President Napolitano and ask UC to step to the bar first and give raises in lieu of the research funds they distribute to the campuses. Don't hold your breath pending a reply.
While applauding Bret's forthrightness concerning the now obvious facts on the ground, let's please not inadvertently demonize the technical staff that were asked/directed to work on LIFE. They worked real hard on a challenging set of conceptual design problems with frequent redirection from above.
February 1, 2014 at 10:26 AM:
Well said.
Wow. Someone is either drinking or handing out the kool aid.
Employees do get pay raises, and employers pay for them.
Sorry for the reality check.
"...let's please not inadvertently demonize the technical staff that were asked/directed to work on LIFE. They worked real hard on a challenging set of conceptual design problems with frequent redirection from above..."
Akima employees "worked real hard" too, and for their collective efforts, well over 50 of them were laid off in such a manner to not trigger the CA Warn Act. Way to pay tribute to those employees LLNS.
Wow. Someone is either drinking or handing out the kool aid.
Employees do get pay raises, and employers pay for them.
Sorry for the reality check.
February 1, 2014 at 11:38 AM
You are correct. And February 1, 2014 at 10:33 AM was merely pointing out the reality of how they happen at LLNS and LANS.
If operating funds are sufficiently robust to cover the management fee and bonuses in full,
Then the operating funds should be sufficiently robust to cover the approved worker CIP in full as well.
Every one of them that I have ever been a part of.
AnonymousFebruary 1, 2014 at 8:57 AM
Sorry, when was the last time you saw a multi-year funding proposal that included annual pay raises for employees?
----------------
Every proposal I have ever been a part of has accounted for annual increases in compensation, benefits, and overhead.
Big deal. The only thing that Knapp know how to do is kill things (missions, programs, projects, organizations, divisions, groups, capabilities, office space, technologies, etc.). Its all that he accomplished while at LANL. It makes him feel important.....
If you like him, please keep him. He was never welcome at LANL and destroyed everything he touched.
I wonder how Charlie Verdon feels about the LIFE cancellation. WCI invested people and $$ to try get ignition with the ultimate result being the scientific breakeven shot. It seems this red teaming stuff was all for nothing.
This is a big win for the mainstream scientific community. LIFE was discredited and eventually cancelled. Guess what's going to happen to the laser EOS effort? It's already been discredited. We're all waiting.
Livermore management should understand that the critics of NIF are not going to go away. The cancellation of LIFE will only embolden NIF's critics.
February 1, 2014 at 2:51 PM
Can you give us a few examples?
Akima employees "worked real hard" too...
Didn't say otherwise. Contract labor comes in with different terms of employment. There should be no surprise if they are among the first to go when there is a funding downturn.
At this point, contractors should probably have no more than a two year appointment. Otherwise, I think we just keep that hiring vehicle around so that regular employees feel less "at will" themselves.
Yes Akima, and supplemental labor in general, has been the traditional buffer for career FTEs, and they shouldn't be surprised if laid off first. No argument there. It is just to say, a lay off administered through a CA Warn Act process could have provided a softer landing for them.
Does supplemental labor fall outside of CA Warn Act requirements and protections? I don't think so. Am I wrong?
No, it does not because contractors are not employed directly by the lab. That's why contractors exist, to provide supplemental labor as-needed, and to provide flexibility for the lab to cut costs by getting rid of supplemental labor first.
Besides the welcomed and long overdue LIFE "cancellation", I'm surprised there is little discussion about Bret's admission that he has formally applied for the position (Director). What, no PHD? What, not a scientist or physicist? As for me, I don't care if our future Director is a PHD, or is an Engineer like Bret and not a scientist. I want someone who can go to DC and bring back the chedder. Whether or not that person is Bret, I don't know...
I believe that Bret Knapp is going to be our Lab Director. We had Lab Director before who did not have a PhD, although he was a physicist.
The current selection is only a formality and a motion that management has to go through. Why would the Board of Governors brings in someone from Los Alamos as an interim Director while we have many ADs who can do the interim job?
And if the poster above is correct that Bret has also applied for the Director position, I would bet theft Bret will be our Director. He seems to be very personable and easy going from my observations.
Just hope that if he is selected, he will make decision fairly and transparency to Lab employees.
I believe that Bret Knapp is going to be our Lab Director. We had Lab Director before who did not have a PhD, although he was a physicist.
The current selection is only a formality and a motion that management has to go through. Why would the Board of Governors bring in someone from Los Alamos as an interim Director while we have many ADs who can do the interim job?
And if the poster above is correct that Bret has also applied for the Director position, I would bet that d Bret will be our Director. He seems to be very personable and easy going from my observations.
Just hope that if he is selected, he will make decision fairly and transparency to Lab employees.
Whoever is selected, here's a bit of unsolicited advice,
Befriend the working staff, the ones that actually get the job done.
These folks have been trampled over the last few years. A little compassion would go a long way in rebuilding employee relations.
The managerial types have taken care of themselves quite well, and need no further coddling at this point.
Whoever is selected, here's a bit of unsolicited advice,
Befriend the working staff, the ones that actually get the job done.
These folks have been trampled over the last few years. A little compassion would go a long way in rebuilding employee relations.
The managerial types have taken care of themselves quite well, and need no further coddling at this point.
WCI *is* ICF now, so of course they contributed resources because they have been driving the effort for years. Moses and Co. deliberately gutted the old Y-division, the people who might have been able to succeed or at least come up with a story as to why the NIC failed, leaving the whole effort totally dependent on the accuracy of the simulation predictions. They turned out to be wrong, what a surprise, and so it all failed spectacularly. And there is no way back because many key people have moved on, inside and outside the lab, over the past nearly ten years.
NIF had a great many successes, contrary to the libelous drivel spewing out of the hate-mongers. Ta was shown to have a new high pressure phase thanks to experiments on NIF. And they continue to pursue such high pressure research in collaboration with world-renowned geophysicists and high pressure physicists. Without NIF, we wouldn't have known about the new Ta phase. More discoveries are just waiting to be uncovered.
Hopefully they will be within budget.
"NIF had a great many successes, contrary to the libelous drivel spewing out of the hate-mongers. Ta was shown to have a new high pressure phase thanks to experiments on NIF. And they continue to pursue such high pressure research in collaboration with world-renowned geophysicists and high pressure physicists. Without NIF, we wouldn't have known about the new Ta phase. More discoveries are just waiting to be uncovered."
You've got to be kidding. Billions of dollars have been spent on NIF thus far and the best you can come up with is a new high pressure phase of tantalum? Hardly big headline news. Here, I'll even help you out: They have also published a paper claiming to have metallized diamond by shock compression. That's a bit better and somewhat higher on the scale of scientific interest than a new tantalum phase. Still a poor return on billions of dollars in investment, though. As for working with "world-renowned geophysicists and high pressure physicists", the diamond anvil experimentalists at the Lab do that, too. They do their work without a NIF-sized budget, though.
I thought the Ta results were discredited?
I haven't heard about any great discovery about a new phase of tantalum discovered at NIF. I just did a Google search using the key words "tantalum new phase Livermore", and came up blank. If there is some great new discovery about tantalum, the people at NIF are doing a great job in keeping it secret.
You gotta be kidding me. They didn't publish that work? It was the big news a while back, how using NIF they discovered a new exotic phase in Ta that would lead to a nature/science/PRL. What happened?
Time to thin out mid & lower level management to replenish the empty surplus budget pot.
I think the new Ta phase was overtaken by the urgency to publish a nature/science/PRL on the new 14 kJ NIF capsule.
I heard that LLNL is going to file a patent on nuclear fusion after they publish the 14 kJ breakeven result.
"I think the new Ta phase was overtaken by the urgency to publish a nature/science/PRL on the new 14 kJ NIF capsule."
Seems like I heard something about the new Ta phase at least a couple of months back. Don't see why preparing a new paper on the 14 kJ capsule should have precluded them from at least submitting a paper for a new Ta phase.
Don't see why preparing a new paper on the 14 kJ capsule should have precluded them from at least submitting a paper for a new Ta phase.
February 4, 2014 at 6:30 PM
Um, you don't realize the post you are replying to was sarcasm?
Was the Ta paper rejected?
"Um, you don't realize the post you are replying to was sarcasm?"
Uh, no. Sorry, but when it comes to NIF and LIFE related things my sarcasm detector doesn't work very well.
Brett Knapp will be LLNL's next Director. Everything else that the LLNS Board is doing for their search is just window dressing. They've already made their decision.
They've already made their decision.
February 4, 2014 at 9:02 PM
Your pretense of actually knowing something is laughable. Do you ever say "in my opinion" or is your opinion always truth?
""I think the new Ta phase was overtaken by the urgency to publish a nature/science/PRL on the new 14 kJ NIF capsule."
I'm not convinced that the above post is sarcasm, either. If it is intended as sarcasm, it isn't a very good use of sarcasm. A 14 kJ shot, while far short of ignition, is a scientifically noteworthy and unique achievement worthy of at least a PRL.
5 billion dollars for a paper on a scientifically noteworthy result....
I feel quite confident that I could publish at least two scientifically noteworthy papers on a 5 million dollar budget. I have a Ph.D.
Oh, I meant 5 billion. My Ph.D. Is not in math.
I'm still curious what happened to the Ta phase discovery. It was really hyped up big.
I'm still curious what happened to the previous budget surplus?
I heard it was deemed bogus after being hyped too much, too early, but I don't know the details.
Oh okay. So it was all fraudulent... Both the Ta phase AND the budget surplus. Nice.
Was "life" funded by a client or agency?
"Raises are based on performance, so lack of ignition, no path forward for LIFE (the only major LAB project that would have brought in enough money to fund both Engineering and Physics !),and so you have a downward spiraling LAB,..."
I think that we need to distinguish between ICF and ignition on the one hand, and LIFE on the other. I'm all for ignition. As far as I can tell it may be worthwhile and achievable goal, and it would be great for the Lab if it can be pulled off. LIFE is another matter. As I wrote above, I think that it is "the stuff of fantasy". No way, no how was it ever, ever going to work from even an even basic economic viewpoint. LIFE was a bet that should never have been made.
"do you think small insignificant projects can fund a major national laboratory. Let's just all go to work on warheads, sensors, and hydrogen fuel cells, that'll take care of funding ! No forward looking vision, no LAB ! LOL !"
Well Edison and Bell labs just worked on small projects. I understand one sometimes needs big focused projects but I think the vast majority breakthroughs start on much smaller scales. I suppose Congress does not like that and instead wants something "BIG" but Big is not always the way to go. I make no judgment on NIF, I am just pointing this out.
February 6, 2014 at 2:14 PM said...
"...no path forward for LIFE (the only major LAB project that would have brought in enough money to fund both Engineering and Physics !)..."
You mean by lying through our teeth about the prospects, spinning a tall tale just to extract taxpayer money to fund us so we can play with our toys, write our papers and collect our paychecks and pensions? That is unconscionable, but sadly a typical lab attitude.
"Well you got what you wanted ! No LIFE, no raises."
LIFE never had a snowball's chance in hell in working - not even if NIF had achieved ignition. That's something you should know if you, as a former Lab scientist, spent even a short time studying the concept.
It's not that we "wanted" LIFE to fail. It's that we knew that the idea was destined to fail because it made no sense. One doesn't choose to believe in things simply because one wants them to be true - or maybe in your case you do.
"You mean by lying through our teeth about the prospects, spinning a tall tale just to extract taxpayer money to fund us so we can play with our toys, write our papers and collect our paychecks and pensions? That is unconscionable, but sadly a typical lab attitude.
February 6, 2014 at 9:26 PM"
This argument that the lab is a waste of the taxpayers money is pretty thin. Consider all the things that the government wastes money on. Our paychecks are pretty small compared to the money fatcat corporations literally steal from the taxpayer. Ever heard of TARP?, QE1,2,3...N. Of course not that is beyond you. As for building "our" toys. These are not toys and in many cases they do pay off. As for you statement about writing papers, well that just shows how utterly ignorant you are. Really you want to use that argument? That kind of kills every drop of credibility you have. I am not saying that some money at the labs is has not been misspent, it just pails in comparison to what real waste out there. By the way biggest money waste at LLNL is the fee, where we in fact pay a corporation money to make the place worse. Name one added value that the fee brings to the lab? It is like this all over the United States. We pay private companies money to make things run worse. Ya capitalism baby, the republican way, free market and all, except it is not capitalism, it is crony capitalism. The same kind of "capitalism" that you in third world countries. But hey forget those problems lets slam the labs. Maybe you are angry because you got RIFed after the contract change? Well the scientists and engineers did not RIF you, NIF did not RIF you. You got RIFed so that a corporation could gets its fee to ruin the place. You got RIFed so that a small number of people could get richer and you to get poorer. Science had nothing to do with it. Ask yourself this. Is the lab better off now than it was 8 years ago? Do you care? No all you do is hate scientists and engineers. You love Justin Beiber, Miley Cryus and the Superbowl. You hate Obama, but fail to see that Obama is exactly the same as Bush. Wake up...Wake up.
February 7, 2014 at 6:52 AM is crazy and needs help.
February 7, 2014 at 6:52 AM is crazy and needs help.
February 7, 2014 at 7:34 AM
I'd rather he stayed crazy - if he were sane he'd be very dangerous. But his craziness "pails" in comparison to his ignorance.
Granted, 6:52am was a rant, but I think he makes several valid points.
I can't find one, other than "Other people rip off taxpayers, why can't we?"
Most of the big TARP recipients eagerly paid the money back to the government. Many never wanted to give the government any chance of being a major shareholder in the first place. So I don't see how TARP is a good example of stealing from the taxpayer.
So I don't see how TARP is a good example of stealing from the taxpayer.
February 16, 2014 at 3:42 AM
It isn't. It's just an example of unconstitutional overreach by the federal government.
"
You mean by lying through our teeth about the prospects, spinning a tall tale just to extract taxpayer money to fund us so we can play with our toys, write our papers and collect our paychecks and pensions? That is unconscionable, but sadly a typical lab attitude."
Yep, that's how you support a National Lab ! Livermore is just more honest than the rest, by and large. We know worse offenders. The various Labs exist for those rare times when the nation's existence is at risk. Other times just for "play".
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