LLNL - The True Story -

http://my.auburnjournal.com/detail/135482.html

Anonymously contributed (title added by BLOG moderator): Check out this Wall St Journal article http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125910876247663245.html

Anonymously contributed: Why does LLNL senior management bother with the appraisal and salary management charade when the management process costs much more than the managed funds dispensed? How much effort will a 200 really put in for the wonderful 1% average reward, when medical and tax increases take most? Why try indeed. Consider that the full LLNS fee annually exceeds by four times the amount of the whole professional annual salary increase package. Nice, huh?

Anonymous said... Big cuts in store for Livermore By Jeanine Benca Contra Costa Times 11/20/2009 LIVERMORE — Street signs will be repainted less often, police response to non-emergencies will be slower and library hours will be fewer under a staggering proposal to scale back city services. Across-the-board reductions are needed to fill an unanticipated $3.2 million deficit caused by statewide sales tax dips and other factors, Livermore officials said. The city council will discuss the city manager's financial update and recommended cuts Monday. "We've been able to weather the storm for quite some time without layoffs or service reductions," said assistant city manager Troy Brown. "Unfortunately, we're to the point now where we're having to have difficult discussions." The recession has already taken a toll on city coffers. Since 2008, Livermore has lost some $8.7 million in sales tax, property tax and other revenues. Until now, creative accounting me...

According to employee survey.... or are they? Post from LANL Blog

Anonymous said... Russia continues to modernize its nuclear triad November 19, 2009 2:57 AM

Anonymous said... IBM uses Blue Gene supercomputer to model neural behavior of a cat brain. Of all the things DOE could do with that class of computer, you would think that someone would come up with a better project than that. November 18, 2009 7:16 PM

Anonymously contributed: This blog is overwhelmed by negative comments. While any of us could certainly join in on everything from our indefensible overhead rates to stifling computer security craziness, it gets old after months and months and months! So if you need to rant, go do it in some other post. Here I challenge actual LLNL employees to say something positive about the place we all work. I'll start: I actually enjoy my work at LLNL. Yes, you heard correctly, I get to work a great group of scientists, recognized in our field, perform cutting-edge research, publish papers, attend professional society meetings, and have access to some great equipment. Especially compared with what some of my colleagues are going through at the Universities (cuts and furloughs) the lab remains a great place to do science.

The word on the street is the LLNS is desperate to build morale. I don't think this is just a rumor either. Many departments have created "blogs" to find out what employees are thinking and now, there is the employee blog. Sorry, no need to provide a link, because you have to be on-site to get to it! No sense posting to it, because my guess is it's overly censored (you do have to sign in with your OUN to reply to any of the posts). I do see that the administrator of the LLNS blog is actually a poster on this blog - see, management is indeed reading this blog! I heard that several departments had some type of a morale committee, but that they were disbanded when the committee members had no morale themselves. I do like the posting here where someone said that working at LLNL gave them a sense of pride. Our current management has deflated almost all of the pride any of us ever had. Me, I'm just plain emotionally drained. The article in the news where it says th...

Bruzer said: Did Anyone else read in the "Daily Clips" Monday, that between Sandia & LLNL they will be hiring 500 employees due to the expected number of employees that will be naturally retiring? I think what really is going on is they just now figured out they laid off too many outstanding employees and won't have the correct talent available come 2012!!!

Project On Government Oversight article

Anonymously contributed: I'm a retiree- took the buyout, such as it was, because I figured that even tho LANS people got twice as much, that was the best we could expect, and I didn't want to "go down with the ship" that used to be called LLNL. I received a letter dated 11/6/09 from LLNS signed by Art Wong that states the letter sent by Hewitt "incorrectly stated that .. enrollment ends on Nov 6, 2009." He states it is open until 11/20/09. Q. The letter does not give costs, does anyone know how to get those? There was an article in the local paper that said the same thing, and the reporter asked Hewitt about the error. Hewitt's response sounded like: Well, it was correct for other programs we handle, and NO they were not going to correct their error. Maybe LLNS should contract with someone to manage our health care who cares about doing a good job? Or restore the good in-house HR dept. that once did this?

This post is a comment under the post "How long will he last?". I am moving it here in the hopes that ULM (or their intelligence) see it and are reminded of the problem. I thought it sums up the fundamental problem of LLNL --- scooby -- You have raised a very significant question regarding the success of outside managers. In my 30 years at the Lab, many of which were spent in WFO programs, I am not sure that I have seen any. On the other hand, I have seen numerous failures. The underlying problem is that LLNL is not structured for WFO success . Part of the problem is internal, part is due to the DOE bureaucracy. The Lab is basically a weapons design lab. It is the best in the world in that mission, but that mission is dying. If the Lab is ever to be successful in the WFO arena, we need to overhaul DOE or move the Lab out of that management. We cannot devote hundreds of millions of dollars to nonsense bureaucracy--IWSs, AB, etc. When we had a real enemy, political pressures ke...

Anonymously contributed: Here is what Miller and Liedle make Liedle: $867356.00 Miller $441891.00 go to the RECOVERY.gov to see for your self.

Anonymously contributed: The lab is showing no favoritism at all. The broadcast of Michelle Obama's visit to the Department of Energy headquarters today (Nov. 5) will not be aired on Lab TV. DOE could not locate an accessible satellite to carry the broadcast. WFC?

Anonymously contributed: I wonder how long he will last.... Penrose Albright, former Homeland Security Secretary, named Global Security leader at Lawrence Livermore By Physics Today on November 5, 2009 LIVERMORE, Ca — Penrose. C. "Parney" Albright, former Assistant Secretary at the Department of Homeland Security, has been named the Principal Associate Director of Global Security at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Albright will join the Lab on Nov. 30, Director George Miller announced. The Global Security Principal Directorate applies multi-disciplinary science and technology to anticipate, innovate and deliver responsive solutions to complex global security needs, from energy and environmental security to domestic security and nonproliferation. "Parney is extremely well qualified to assume responsibility for Global Security, an area of critical importance to our Laboratory as well as the country," Miller said. "He is internationally recognized for his ...

Anonymously contributed: Check the facts about the flu vaccine at: factcheck.org

Anonymously contributed: A while back, I posted about the swine flu, and asked people to do some research on the subject. Blogmaster, thanks for posting it. I hope someone paid attention. Most didn't. For those of you who saw the movie 'V', it is now time for us to sit down and have a little chat. Since I last posted, your bill of rights has been taken away, the Emergency declaration and level 6 has trumped it. Meanwhile, 500,000 are under mandatory vaccine attack in NY, and many people are leaving the state as the court battles go on. In Mass, impeachment for the governor is underway, for treason. The story is much bigger than just s seasonal shot. Just stay informed, don't go quietly into the night! links: youtube: "Finland's Health Minister Blasts Swine Flu BS" -Ukraine under bio attack. -swine vaccine hidden in seasonal flu shot. tons more, just get away from the mainstream media and poke around!