A message from the LLNL director on LANL workforce plan
You may have seen that Los Alamos National Laboratory has announced it is working with NNSA to develop a workforce plan to help mitigate the impact of budget shortfalls at LANL for fiscal year 2012.
Our Laboratory remains on a sound footing for FY12. As you know, there is still a great deal of uncertainty in Washington over final appropriations for FY13 and beyond, and LLNL senior leaders continue to work the situation very closely. The Laboratory can remain on a sound footing if final appropriations for FY13 are consistent with FY12.
LLNL senior management is working proactively to maintain stability throughout the expected federal budget turmoil, to include a possible yearlong Continuing Resolution at the end of FY12, while keeping the entire institution fiscally sound and meeting the demands of our many missions.
Parney Albright
You may have seen that Los Alamos National Laboratory has announced it is working with NNSA to develop a workforce plan to help mitigate the impact of budget shortfalls at LANL for fiscal year 2012.
Our Laboratory remains on a sound footing for FY12. As you know, there is still a great deal of uncertainty in Washington over final appropriations for FY13 and beyond, and LLNL senior leaders continue to work the situation very closely. The Laboratory can remain on a sound footing if final appropriations for FY13 are consistent with FY12.
LLNL senior management is working proactively to maintain stability throughout the expected federal budget turmoil, to include a possible yearlong Continuing Resolution at the end of FY12, while keeping the entire institution fiscally sound and meeting the demands of our many missions.
Parney Albright
Comments
And for this, Charlie McMillan gets $2 million per year and a standing ovation and applause when he finishes his All-Hands on Tuesday announcing the layoffs he plans to inflict on the crowd?
LANL is in the sinking boat alone for now.
Translation: Parney did not require OJT.
Or not, for 800 staff.
February 22, 2012 12:52 PM
Relative to the "dumps" the folks in Los Alamos live in, McMillan's house may as well be Gorgon Gekko's.
I was there. There was *not* a standing ovation following his Tuesday all-hands meeting.
If you're going to be dishonest, at least make it hard to detect.
February 22, 2012 5:06 PM
Real Estate envy? The median housing price is about $300k. The "dumps" you refer to are the few left-over 50's government-built housing that was so solidly constructed, even the determined efforts of decades of "slum dwellers" i.e., graduate students and postdocs, inhabiting poorly-kept units owned by uncaring slumlords like De Baca and Deal, have not resulted in collapse, just disgusting exteriors. These will (and are) be gradually torn down and the large resulting lots subdivided to more affordable spots for new homes. Much of this was accomplished by the Cerro Grande fire in 2000. The small remainder will be gone over the next 10 years or so as the places slowly lose the viability of their internal systems (ungrounded electrical, 120v only service, old inefficient forced-air heaters, single-pane windows) and the demand for suitable single-family lots grows.
What exactly can be said? "Don't worry kids, I'm absolutely sure the FY13 budget will be rosy!" Maybe St. Pete could make such assurances, but no lab director can.
Parney said things are OK for now at LLNL, and acknowledged risks going into FY13. Straight enough to not insult our intelligence.
LLNL may not have a problem right now, but it will come next year this time. These days, the lab needs to have some flexibility to change up the skills and workforce levels. And just when will we start paying into the pension plan again?
February 22, 2012 9:21 PM
Could someone explain why LANS employees TCP-1 folks will be contributing from 6 to 8% and the LLNS TCP-1 folks are not paying a dime? This is hardly "substantially equivalent". Something went very wrong here and yet another example of how we got screwed in this deal. Now I know why they called him "Tyler the Liar".
February 22, 2012 7:27 PM
Hardly envious! The median housing price in the San Francisco Bay Area is a cool $3M. I have no idea why folks choose to live in Lost Almost or White Sock.
February 23, 2012 1:22 AM
Uh, because only idiots, who haven't learned a thing in the last five years, would park so much of their wealth in a pile of lumber, which is what it will be after the "big one."
That's nothing. Just wait until this time next year when LANS will be telling LANL employees that they'll be required to cough up over 10% of their salary to support the TCP1 pension.
The end game for this mess will be a freeze to further pension service credit accumulation. Expect to see that announcement within 5 years.
The "substantial equivalent" words told to workers from DOE hacks back in 2005 were nothing but lies.
February 23, 2012 9:03 AM
I bought for $400K, now worth a cool $3M. Equity baby equity! My lumber is worth every penny, while folks in White Sock and Lost Almost are sitting on lumber not even the termites would touch.
February 23, 2012 8:27 PM
Nope, just someone who has convinced himself that California isn't about to implode, economically, politically, and socially. He'll be defending his $3M McMansion with his silver butter knives soon.
February 23, 2012 8:27 PM
Yeah that's Knapp. Did everyone see him at the McMillan talk with that smug and superior look. He's really enjoying bringing LANL and Los Alamos to it's knees. He doesn't realize that there is an almighty God that will eventually bring him to his knees one day. May God have mercy on you Knapp.
February 24, 2012 6:48 PM
Another Bechtel or LANL employee who has "sold-out" to these "folks". Anything for a few extra bucks. Personally, I'd rather keep my dignity that shove my face in stinky places.
February 25, 2012 4:27 PM
Haven't you noticed? This IS their site.
February 25, 2012 4:27 PM
Have some respect for "Home of the Atomic Bomb". Also, don't forget LANL is keeping LLNL afloat by giving you operational nuclear weapons (i.e. W80, W78 LEP, others?) to screw-up.
February 25, 2012 4:27 PM
Haven't you noticed? This IS their site.
February 26, 2012 2:14 PM
LANL is like those relatives that are invited over for dinner. Before you know it, their sleeping in your bed, using your toothbrush, and wearing your clothes. God love LANL.
The LANL folks did bring us the phase "shoes that grip" which would be a good tag for the DOE Cowboy boots.
February 25, 2012 4:27 PM
For the past decade, LANL employees have been perfecting the practice of destroying anything that is not home-grown. They have earned the reputation of being against everything that is not from LANL, while at the same time being unable to make compelling cases for any outsiders to back their own ideas.
February 28, 2012 7:37 AM
Anastasio showed that he was able to make progress for LANL against this tide. He was a bright spot in an otherwise crappy decade. The attitude on the Hill today is back where it was under Nanos. Sad, very sad to see such progress backsliding.
February 28, 2012 7:37 AM
That's because systems that are designed at LANL work. There have been countless LLNL FUBaRs (NIF, Brillant Pebbles, MFTF, X-ray laser, weapon systems, etc.). Furthermore, LLNL oversells and never delivers. If you don't believe me, ask the Navy, they hate LLNL. It's not by accident that the Navy has no LLNL systems deployed, unless they were stolen from LANL, such as the W80. And I hear LLNL is working hard to screw-up that system. End of story!
February 28, 2012 8:04 AM
Before getting all spun up in a love fest over Mike, need to remember that he told everyone that it would be a *mistake* to select his sucessor from anywhere other than WP.
February 28, 2012 4:56 PM
What a joke! It was LLNL who showed the Navy how to fit a warhead in a missle. LANL couldn't do it.
With full SCAP rates removed, NIF, WCI and GS are now the only tax providers and they can't afford to carry the full weight.
NLT 12 months.
As opposed to with SCAP rates, WCI and GS are the only full-rate tax providers. Welcome to the club, NIF.