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LANS Ceases Hiring all Design Physics (X) and Weapon Engineering (W) Personnel

Anonymously contributed:

Does anyone know why LANL X and W-Divisions suddenly closed all advertised positions and ceased hiring? Is this due to the downward spiral of weapon funding or another draconian move by Knapp to flex his weight? Is this the first sign that "firings" will soon begin at LANS?

Comments

Anonymous said…
It may not be anything that dramatic. LLNL is in the process of migrating to a new hiring system. As part of that they are trying to close out as many things as possible that don't make sense to move to the new system. Given that LANS and LLNS have many common business IT systems, could the same be going on there?
Anonymous said…
It was said that only nixon could go to China. Maybe only a weapons guy can be the one to gracefully downsize the weapons guys ...
Anonymous said…
I heard Sandia also has a hiring freeze.
Anonymous said…
If the budget "Super Committee" in Congress can't come to agreement on substantial cuts by the end of the year then drastic automatic cuts of around 10% will be executed on defense related accounts. GIven the chaos and bitter fighting in Congress, I wouldn't count on a "Super Committee" agreement.

Perhaps LANS is preparing for what my be inevitable -- large budget cuts for NNSA. Congress recently made it very clear that they consider NNSA to be "defense". A 10% cut to the weapons budget may be in the cards. That would likely result in layoffs in the weapons program.
Anonymous said…
I know that this is a LLNL blog but does anybody know what is going on with all the management changes at LANL? I guess the obvious answer is that McMillan is "cleaning house" or at least making some changes he wants.
Anonymous said…
I know that this is a LLNL blog but does anybody know what is going on with all the management changes at LANL? I guess the obvious answer is that McMillan is "cleaning house" or at least making some changes he wants.

August 27, 2011 9:22 PM

Yeah! No one except a few are left.

• Michael Anastasio, Laboratory Director, Gone
• John Mitchell, Deputy Laboratory Director, Gone
• Glenn Mara, Principal Associate Director for Weapons Programs, Gone
• Jan Van Prooyen, Principal Associate Director for Operations, Gone
• Doug Beason, Associate Director for Threat Reduction, Gone
• Jerry Ethridge, Associate Director for Infrastructure and Site Services, Gone
• Scott Gibbs, Associate Director for Engineering
• Doris Heim, Associate Director for Business Services, Gone
• Asa Kelley, Associate Director for Project Management Services, Gone
• Bret Knapp, Associate Director for Weapons Engineering
• Mike Mallory, Associate Director for Stockpile Manufacturing, Gone
• Charles McMillan, Associate Director for Weapons Physics
• Bob McQuinn, Associate Director for Nuclear and High-Hazard Operations, Gone
• Andy Phelps, Associate Director for Environmental Management, Gone
• Susan Seestrom, Associate Director for Physics and Computing
• Paul Sowa, Associate Director for Safeguards and Security, Gone
• Terry Wallace, Associate Director for Strategic Research
• Dick Watkins, Associate Director for Environment, Safety, Health and Quality, Gone
• Roger Hagengruber, Chief Security Officer, Gone
• Glenn Kizer, Chief Financial Officer, Gone
• Roland Knapp, Contractor Assurance Officer, Gone

No one survives the LANS "grind". Give the rest of left a couple years.
Anonymous said…
August 28, 2011 5:24 PM

You forgot
"William Rees" Gone, rumors that it
went down ugly.

Terry Wallace, Associate Director for Strategic Research. He is no longer in that position but still at the lab.
Anonymous said…
I can hardly wait to hear when Bret Knapp is GONE!!!
Anonymous said…
" I can hardly wait to hear when Bret Knapp is GONE!!!

August 29, 2011 5:41 PM"

We got it, you hate Knapp. But be careful what you wish for, after all these years of bitter hatred for this person once he is gone what will you have left? Without your hatred to sustain you what meaning will life have for you?
Anonymous said…
There is no hiring freeze at Sandia. Maybe hiring is curtailed like everywhere else in the United States, but there is no freeze.
Anonymous said…
We got it, you hate Knapp. But be careful what you wish for, after all these years of bitter hatred for this person once he is gone what will you have left? Without your hatred to sustain you what meaning will life have for you?

August 30, 2011 7:24 AM

Hatred is too kind a word for this MF.
Anonymous said…
LANL is retiring its current hiring system in favor of the one in Oracle's ERP. I seriously doubt its some kind of conspiracy...I work in one of the "X"s and there is no talk at all of ceasing hiring. Jeez...not everything is a Government (or LANS) conspiracy.
Anonymous said…
"Jeez...not everything is a Government (or LANS) conspiracy.

August 30, 2011 6:08 PM"

I agree with our point, however there have been enough previous examples that you can no longer tell what is going on. Not everything is a conspiracy but anything could be. There is simply no trust between workers and management,... perhaps that is what "they" want.
Anonymous said…
Not everything is a conspiracy but anything could be. There is simply no trust between workers and management,... perhaps that is what "they" want.

August 30, 2011 8:59 PM

Uh, maybe if you simply kept up with what's going on at your place of employment outside your little sandbox? I mean, like an employee who actually cares and wants to stay informed? The announcements about this were almost inescapable if you cared to pay attention. Don't complain about being ignorant about something you decided you didn't need to know about.
Anonymous said…
LANL is retiring its current hiring system in favor of the one in Oracle's ERP. I seriously doubt its some kind of conspiracy...I work in one of the "X"s and there is no talk at all of ceasing hiring. Jeez...not everything is a Government (or LANS) conspiracy.

August 30, 2011 6:08 PM

When the new job postings opened, there are a couple of jobs listed in X-Division and W-Division has no job advertisements. Incidentally, you pretty naive to think you have to be told there is a freeze for there to be a freeze. Pull your head out.
Anonymous said…
Technical staff costs are being raised, yet again, at LANL for this next year by close to 5%. Project funding will be stretched thinner and thinner to support the lab's growing and largely unproductive overhead. McMillian seems oblivious to all of it.

They are pricing the lab's technical staff out of the market to support an enormously bloated and highly overpaid management team. What an ugly joke the LANS/Bechtel "for-profit" management scheme of the NNSA labs has become.
Anonymous said…
Costs at the NNSA labs continue to rise out of control under the new "for-profit" management teams run by Bechtel.

How surprising.... not. The NNSA labs of LANL and LLNL are little more than lucrative profit centers for the new Bechtel overlords who come and go through the LANS and LLNS upper management chain at a rapid rate.
Anonymous said…
Costs at the NNSA labs continue to rise out of control under the new "for-profit" management teams run by Bechtel.

How surprising.... not. The NNSA labs of LANL and LLNL are little more than lucrative profit centers for the new Bechtel overlords who come and go through the LANS and LLNS upper management chain at a rapid rate.

September 18, 2011 8:42 PM

They are not completely leaving without getting on the LLNS/LANS pension plan WITH service years from their parent company! WHAT A DEAL!

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