Tri-Valley Cares needs to be on this if they aren't already. We need to make sure that NNSA and LLNL does not make good on promises to pursue such stupid ideas as doing Plutonium experiments on NIF. The stupidity arises from the fact that a huge population is placed at risk in the short and long term. Why do this kind of experiment in a heavily populated area? Only a moron would push that kind of imbecile area. Do it somewhere else in the god forsaken hills of Los Alamos. Why should the communities in the Bay Area be subjected to such increased risk just because the lab's NIF has failed twice and is trying the Hail Mary pass of doing an SNM experiment just to justify their existence? Those Laser EoS techniques and the people analyzing the raw data are all just BAD anyways. You know what comes next after they do the experiment. They'll figure out that they need larger samples. More risk for the local population. Stop this imbecilic pursuit. They wan...
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Maybe Anastasio has political aspirations and can make a run for governor of New Mexico. That would surely raise the ire of the Anastasio detractors.
Anybody wanna guess who will now get the Director's "zoom zoom" sports car and his primo parking space in front of Otowi? My guess would be McMillan, who is yet another Livermore transplant at LANL. Or perhaps we will be graced with the selection of Bret Knapp as our next LANL Director, God forbid!
5 years = vested !
It sure would (have) been nice if LANL had had a credible home team to propose at contract transition. Look in the mirror, not at Livermore, for why that was the case.
Ambassador Robinson's World-class team was head and shoulders above Anastasio's, but the UC-Bechtel fix was in.
Why?
January 8, 2011 10:13 AM
John Browne was blown away by UC for no good reasons, except to bring in the admiral, Nanos, who single-handedly destroyed all morale at LANL. The LANS proposal included so many LLNL members to convince NNSA that LANS was serious about fixing the LANL "problems" which in fact did not really exist. So much taxpayer money spent for so little result.
LANL's "Team" consisted of people who were loyal to LANL but not to Sandia. LLNL won, LANL lost, and Sandia got to sit the whole thing out, to their advantage.
another example of Domenici's admitted dementia-fueled hubris, (take down the complex to protect my pride).
Too bad he wasn't attending the Tuscon event yesterday.
I am not a fan of Domenici but your comment about Tucson is disgraceful. He was not an enemy of the state and certainly no one who was a victim in Tucson deserving of the violence they received.
We will probably get knee jerk reactions from Congress much in the same vein as the knee jerk reactions that caused the Lab bidding process. Domenici was caught in those types of reactionary time and we got NNSA out of his semi-protection of DOE.
See if a wave of gun control legislation is proposed and then see what politicians have the ability to withstand the wave of reactionary politics that result from this tragedy. By the way, the last time I looked Domenici was not representing California's interest. He did more for LLNL than Boxer, Feinstein and Pelosi combined.
Soon enough, the LANS Board will release another one of those famous boiler-plate memo stating those familiar words: "After a wide ranging search for a new lab Director, we discovered the best candidate was right here at Los Alamos... Charlie MacMillian!".
Yeah, the "fix is in". You can go ahead and change your lab org charts now to pencil in his name at the "Director" box. There will be no big surprises when the lucrative Director's position is announced in a few more months. Expect little to change and for morale to continue sinking lower.
Seestrom 30%
Wallace 10%
Knap 10%
Bechtal MBA 39%
Richardson 5%
Random person off street 5%
Non Random person off steet 1%
Another interesting point would be if they hired someone from outside of LANL, what would the pay be? Miller got a lot less for running LLNL that Anastasio got for LANL. If they promoted from within LANL one would think they would not take a pay cut. If they brought someone in from outside could they pay him/her less that what some are making at LANL (but more than at LLNL).
Hard decisions to be made by LANS. And since it's a private corporation, we may never find out what the replacement's salary will be.
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“In a Jan. 5 message to lab employees lauding Anastasio for his tenure at the lab, LANS Board of Governors chairman Norman Pattiz said a search for Anastasio’s successor will begin immediately, and weapons complex observers expect the selection of the lab’s next director to fuel debate over the laboratory’s future. The lab has a long history of picking its leaders from a pool of former weapons physicists, like Anastasio, but the evolving role of the lab could dictate otherwise. “The key question is how much of a ‘weaponeer’ do you need?” one industry observer told NW&M Monitor. “It really reflects where Los Alamos is going as a laboratory. Is it the quintessential weapons lab, or is it a much broader imprint, and do you want a weaponeer in charge, or somebody else that appreciates the weapons program but could also expand the lab’s portfolio?” Industry experts expect current Los Alamos weapons program head Charles McMillan, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory weapons chief Bruce Goodwin and Nevada National Security Site President Steve Younger, a Los Alamos alum, to earn consideration for the post, especially if officials look toward the weapons program for Anastasio’s successor.”
January 13, 2011 7:47 PM
You may be correct, but I hope not. If LANS passes up this opportunity to establish a truly top-drawer Director for LANL, in preference to a hack like Mcmillan, the stench will be unmistakable , even to some (a few) good folks left in NNSA. Younger, however, is probably too aware of the many downsides to his own career to even consider this position. Consider the resume entry of Director, Los Alamos National Laboratory, followed by the affiliation of "LANS LLC." Not a pretty picture for someone for whom that would be a major reduction in stature. Too bad for LANL employees.
"I am very happy to report that National Security Technologies LLC has been awarded an OUTSTANDING rating by the Department of Energy for exemplary work during fiscal year 2008. Last week we were informed that we had achieved a score of 95% - one of the highest in the DOE complex. This recognition of superior performance is the result of a year-long commitment to excellence by the entire organization. As part of this recognition, the period of performance on our contract was extended through September 2012, by exercising our first award term year."
I believe Dr. Steven M. Younger would be the best choice for the next director of LANL, and remember, he´s Director FIRST of LANL, and President of LANS, LLC, SECOND.
January 14, 2011 3:26 AM
Except for your misspelling of "cojones" you are correct. The very best reason to choose Younger as LANL Director is that he can and will rid the place of the Mcmillan/Knapp reign of terror. If the LANS Board of Directors has any "cojones" of their own, they will choose him and then stand back while LANL regains its greatness, post-Anastasio.
Get ready to breath in a most powerful, rotten stench, 9:40pm.
a) NNSA wants a Director they can count on to finally shut-down the LANS pension and kill the retirement medical benefit and employee severance.
b) LANS wants a Director who comes from California with the solid credentials of the Livermore "mafia".
It will be MacMillian. End of story. Now, get back to work and always remember... "PBIs Baby!".
January 15, 2011 6:14 AM
Would someone please convince Dr. Younger to come and save us from the wrath of "Livermore"? I'm tired of Knapp saying "at Livermore, at Livermore, at Livermore, at Livermore...". Help!!!
It will be MacMillian. End of story. Now, get back to work and always remember... "PBIs Baby!".
January 15, 2011 12:06 AM
Nice try, but your argument is a little weak. Apparently you don't know that Younger was a Livermore weapon designer from 1982 - 89. If that makes NNSA happy, I'd certainly forgive Younger and welcome him.
So the worthless LLC gets $75M and the workers who accomplished the work get....a salary freeze....
Nice.
January 15, 2011 8:24 PM
You are pathetic. You either want to work at the labs or you don't. Keep up with the news and decide. No one is going to "remind" you. Get out if you need to. Don't if you can stand being in. Either way. it is your choice and no one can make it for you. Jeez, take responsibility for your own life!
Because of the nice TCP1 pension and the retirement medical benefits.
But don't worry, neither of these benefits will last much longer if DOE/NNSA and the "for profit" LLCs have their way. They are just itching to destroy benefits and the lab pensions, much like they recently did to the employee pension out at Sandia.