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Wednesday, August 9, 2017

North Korea forcing US tests?

Seeing how things are going in North Korea we might have a US test soon. Trump says the US nukes are stronger than ever, does he know Bechtel has been in charge for 10yr?

38 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good luck. As soon as a whiff of it hits the press, some exploding-head snowflake judge in Hawaii will put an indefinite hold on the plans. We are not capable of testing nukes any more.

Anonymous said...

Bechtel hasn't been in charge. Who do the Weapons Lab Directors work for again?

Anonymous said...

Bechtel hasn't been in charge. Who do the Weapons Lab Directors work for again?

August 9, 2017 at 1:48 PM


Bechtel baby! They are calling all the shots...all of the shots.

Anonymous said...

Who is "Bechtel Baby"?? Don't tell me it is your sexual desire for Bechtel managers, please!

Anonymous said...


Bechtel baby is BECHTEL BABY! It is $$$, attituuude, instinct, and Winning. You get it or you get out, go big or go home. It is world wide and dropping the mic, doing victory laps and them some... It is Bechtel Baby you know it or you don't. It is going for the midterm get in for 5-10 years, get the spoils and move on to the next and the next after that, but place some operatives for the slow long term FUNNEL. It is Bechtel Baby, play it, do it, win it, live it, cash it in and f* it. It is Vibrant, UNREAL, contagious, ALIVE,... it is the VUCA many times over and under. It moves mountains, build tunnels, and is essential, it follows the money, grabs it by the, well you know, and the money lets Bechtel grab it by the. It is Bechtel baby!!! there is no ??? to it nor can the be because it is essential. Bechtel baby, you get it you or you don't and some have gotten it very well and played it well and made the money.

If you gotta ask than you ain't gonna get an answer because ya all ain't in the KNOW. Why you ask?, because the world is a very different place now.

Anonymous said...

In the real world, the world almost all of us live in, Bechtel is not in charge of the Weapons Labs. Never was, likely never will be.

Claim Bechtel is in charge and you are lying.

Anonymous said...

Claim Bechtel is in charge and you are lying.

August 9, 2017 at 7:22 PM

Then why have LLNL and LANL been in such a steep decline since 2006? US ran LLNL and LANl very well for 60 years then the contract change and it has been total decay since. You tell me what is wrong? The thread that that UC was ok from 1944-2006 is bs, and you know this as this was the time during the cold war when people understood that the labs mattered. After the cold war you let Bechtel run the place...!? after the big dig, after Hanford, after the problems in South America. The reality is after the cold war people forgot about the labs and let them decay. In the end we may pay the price for this but who really cares about this? All empires end the and it would be foolish to think that United State is an exception.

So you are right Bechtel is not in charge...no one is in charge since no one cares.

Anonymous said...

UC is best.
Bechtel is worst.

-- Snowflake

Anonymous said...

LANS is a private corporation, with a board that has majority UC members and a UC chairman, as well as a president that is a UC employee.

In the real world, where real people live, that bestows LANS ownership and control to UC.

eom

Anonymous said...

LANS is a private corporation, with a board that has majority UC members and a UC chairman, as well as a president that is a UC employee.

In the real world, where real people live, that bestows LANS ownership and control to UC.

eom

Anonymous said...

August 10, 2017 at 8:50 AM

Than why have the labs changed so much? Did UC change or did they just let Bechtel take control?

Anonymous said...

UC today is no longer the UC of WWII, or even UC of the 60's. Face reality that since the mid-90's UC just has not been up to the challenge of running such a diverse and complex organization.

Anonymous said...

UC today is no longer the UC of WWII, or even UC of the 60's. Face reality that since the mid-90's UC just has not been up to the challenge of running such a diverse and complex organization.

August 10, 2017 at 10:13 AM

Not buying it, the labs seemed to run well until the WHL hysteria, stolen Mustangs...ect.
These were simply trumped up hysteria to make the labs for profit. In any case how is the UC system different now from the 60s or 40s, if anything it is more qualified. It is also pretty clear that Bechtel is running the show.

Anonymous said...

These were simply trumped up hysteria

August 10, 2017 at 12:59 PM

WHL wasn't "trumped up." The DOE/NNSA thoroughly screwed up what was a masterfully put together case by the FBI and their and the Lab's own cyber forensic teams. It is unfortunate that WHL thus gets lumped in with the other hysteria (correct word in all the other cases), based solely on the judge's apology to WHL for the government's screwups. WHL probably rightly deserved the apology, but it doesn't make him innocent, just "not proven guilty" on the worst of the charges. In criminal law, "not guilty" does not mean "innocent" as the public imagines.

Anonymous said...

It is also pretty clear that Bechtel is running the show.

August 10, 2017 at 12:59 PM

Not buying it.
Fake news.
Delusional worldview, completely out of line with reality.

Anonymous said...

WHL wasn't "trumped up." The DOE/NNSA thoroughly screwed up what was a masterfully put together case by the FBI and their and the Lab's own cyber forensic teams. It is unfortunate that WHL thus gets lumped in with the other hysteria (correct word in all the other cases), based solely on the judge's apology to WHL for the government's screwups. WHL probably rightly deserved the apology, but it doesn't make him innocent, just "not proven guilty" on the worst of the charges. In criminal law, "not guilty" does not mean "innocent" as the public imagines.

August 10, 2017 at 1:17 PM

Many other people with real knowledge of the case have said it was trumped up. The FBI did have a masterfully put together case they never had a case in the first place and it was the FBI the screwed it up. In criminal law not guilty also means "not guilty" and one is presumed innocent until proven guilty. I think you read too many spy versus spy or Maxwell Smart episodes so you are in "the know" and understand these things.

Anonymous said...

All 100 Bechtel employees are ruling LANL including Charlie, not, Craig, not, Terry, not, Alan, not.
Wait a minute.....

Anonymous said...

Here are the top corporate leaders for LANS, and their parent organizations, from the LANL web page:

McMillan, career UC LLNL and LANL
Kacich, Bechtel for last 10 years, previous 30 years non-Bechtel
Lyons, career UC LANL
Bishop, career UC LANL
Webster, career UC LANL
Wallace, UC LANL for last 15 years, previous 20 years in university
Leasure, career UC LANL
Simmons, Bechtel

Bechtel's 2 of Simmons and Kacich must be very persuasive over the UC 6 (McMillan, Lyons, Bishop, Webster, Wallace, and Leasure) if they are ruling the lab.

Anonymous said...

Is it true that all the folks listed above (i.e. ADs and above) must leave the institution when the new LLC takes over LANL? It appears this happened at Sandia. Please tell me this is true, Webster suggested this in his recent PADW all-hands.

Anonymous said...

5:39 AM

If the same is done as at Sandia, each and every manager above Group Leader (without exception) will be forced to resign. At Sandia a few, but only a very few, Division Leaders were held over between contracts as transition bridges.

Anonymous said...

August 11, 2017 at 4:56 AM

Some of these folks are second generation LANL lifers, whose parents worked there. Talk about an in-bred culture!

Anonymous said...

Bechtel's 2 of Simmons and Kacich must be very persuasive over the UC 6 (McMillan, Lyons, Bishop, Webster, Wallace, and Leasure) if they are ruling the lab.

August 11, 2017 at 4:56 AM


When you go to the DPAD, AD and DAD levels, it is very little Bechtel and almost all LANL lifers.

Anonymous said...

When you go to the DPAD, AD and DAD levels, it is very little Bechtel and almost all LANL lifers.

August 11, 2017 at 9:47 AM

I think a point people are missing is that the salaries for these positions
went way up and if you include the bonus money they may getting four times or more than before the contract change. Bechtel probably said look we will make sure you make tons of money but you have to let us be in control. This is a typical tactic of how a multi-national corporation works, you pay off the key native leaders to do your bidding. This is how you do in Bolivia and how you do in LANL.

Anonymous said...

10:21, GIVE IT UP.

Bechtel is not in charge, never was. Bechtel is NOT in control, never was.

Bechtel had no way to set the salaries of LANL's predominately UC management, those salaries were set by negotiation between the (mostly) UC management and DOE.

You keep perseverating on Bechtel but the rest of us know that LANL's decline is primarily owing to poor quality UC managers, actually mostly dunces, and NNSA's horrendous mismanagement of the entire weapons complex.

Anonymous said...

Bechtel is not in charge, never was. Bechtel is NOT in control, never was.

Bechtel had no way to set the salaries of LANL's predominately UC management, those salaries were set by negotiation between the (mostly) UC management and DOE.

You keep perseverating on Bechtel but the rest of us know that LANL's decline is primarily owing to poor quality UC managers, actually mostly dunces, and NNSA's horrendous mismanagement of the entire weapons complex.

August 11, 2017 at 11:22 AM



This is almost 100% correct in that all but a couple of the top LANL managers have their compensation set by UC, with no input from Bechtel. The only place DOE enters into this is when the total compensation is over a certain level then the government will only reimburse LANS up to that limit from direct costs and the value above it must come from UC's share of the annual fee.

When most of the DADS, ADS, DPADS and PADS reported to be over the 400K range in compensation, LAFO does get to weigh in on the fraction directly paid under the contract.

Anonymous said...

11:22 AM spot on and this is the reason why the contract change will change nothing. The LANL lifers will latch on to the next corporate teet and the gravy train of bad management will continue...

Anonymous said...

Looks like Bechtel has ramped up their defensive posture on social media in advance of the contract change. Time will determine if it makes a difference or not; however, those inside LANL know the truth. Bechtel calls all the shots and pulls all the puppet strings for Charlie and his myrmidons. All of LANS' failures in safety and security are the fault of Bechtel and their poisonous impact, which has cascaded over into dragging down the once great science culture of LANL.

Anonymous said...

You keep perseverating on Bechtel but the rest of us know that LANL's decline is primarily owing to poor quality UC managers, actually mostly dunces.

August 11, 2017 at 11:22 AM


Truer words were never written on this blog!

Anonymous said...

August 12, 2017 at 10:34 AM

Ditto

Anonymous said...

I love the new words invented on this blog.

Anonymous said...

WTF?

Anonymous said...

You keep perseverating on Bechtel but the rest of us know that LANL's decline is primarily owing to poor quality UC managers, actually mostly dunces.

August 11, 2017 at 11:22 AM


Truer words were never written on this blog!

August 12, 2017 at 10:34 AM

You are the exact same poster, you are not fooling anyone.

Anonymous said...

10:34 AM is NOT 11:22 AM

Sorry you feel compelled to make up stories in order to attempt to deflect from the fact that the LANL leadership is almost fully populated by UC lifers that only marginally surpass the minimal required IQ to get a degree.

Anonymous said...

If Bechtel pulls the strings, Charlie would have been fired the second he lost them money.

Anonymous said...

8:22am is correct because they removed every manager involved in the WIPP incident and eventually the PAD.

Anonymous said...

If Bechtel pulls the strings, Charlie would have been fired the second he lost them money.

August 13, 2017 at 8:22 AM


Yep, that is more evidence that UC runs the show.

Anonymous said...

Bechtel has displayed a lot of public buyer's remorse over the selection of Charlie to be Director. At the core of this frustration it sometimes comes out as resignation that Bechtel accepted the UC process to select the UC candidate. What Bechtel found out after the fact was that the process was wired by UC to deliver Charlie. He was sold by UC to Bechtel as the best available, and they bought that line. Recall that DoE did not agree with the UC process and there were some delays in getting Charlie into position as a result.

Anonymous said...

Recall that DoE did not agree with the UC process and there were some delays in getting Charlie into position as a result.

August 13, 2017 at 9:05 AM


Correct that Bruce Darling ran the UC search process to deliver McMillan as the new Director. Pattiz was too much of a rube to even notice that he was being played and all involved were enamored by Anastasio. Anastasio had been Director of both of the design labs and was viewed in an almost god-like manner for having led the LANS team in the contract bid. When Anastasio told Darling and Pattiz that McMillan was the best available replacement, they fell in line and pushed Bechtel to get on board with the decision.

Some of this came to light when Chu initially refused to accept McMillan as the choice. Since the DoE Secretary must approve of the lab Director's qualifications, this put UC in a pinch to defend their flawed process. You can check available information to confirm that several visits to Forrestal were required to get Chu to agree to accept McMillan.

The whole episode left a very bad taste with Chu, and he was outspoken in his disappointment at the way UC had run the process and the caliber of the proposed Director. As a consequence of the lingering ill will between DoE and UC over the McMillan selection, UC responded and Albright was the result of a LLNL search. That search delivered to DoE a Director that was judged qualified for the position.

Going on a bit deeper into the results, many UC lifers remained resentful of Albright, since he had come from outside their environment. He made tough decisions that had been postponed under UC, didn't last long and parted ways with UC.

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