Heather Wilson appointed to NNSA review panel
By Michael Coleman
ABQ Journal Washington Bureau
Fri, Mar 1, 2013
POSTED: 11:59 am
LAST UPDATED: 1:29 pm
U.S. House Speaker John Boehner on Thursday appointed former Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., to a new commission that will recommend ways to improve the performance of the National Nuclear Security Administration, the federal agency that oversees Sandia and Los Alamos National Laboratories.
The 12-member commission was established late last year through legislation introduced by Sens. Tom Udall, D-N.M., and Jon Kyl, an Arizona Republican who retired at the end of 2012. It was unclear late Thursday who the other 11 commission members will be.
The panel will “assess the feasibility and advisability of, and make recommendations with respect to, revising the governance structure of the National Nuclear Security Administration,” according to the bill that created it.
The commission will make specific recommendations, including how to improve scientific work, safety and employee retention. The panel will also explore ways to diversify the national labs’ missions and consider whether oversight of the nation’s nuclear weapons complex should “remain with the administration or be transferred to another agency.” Some NNSA critics have suggested the nuclear weapons labs should fall under the purview of the Department of Defense, not the Department of Energy
Wilson’s appoinment comes at a time when the NNSA – now part of the DOE – is under increasing scrutiny as its budgets have expanded, and some in Congress have questioned the national laboratories’ priorities and performance. Udall and some other members of New Mexico’s congressional delegation have repeatedly said the labs should adjust their mission to include more research and development of clean energy technologies.
“It (the NNSA) has had a lot of problems,” Wilson said in a Journal interview Thursday. “It cost a lot of money, it’s ineffective and it’s not working. So, in some way it has to be fixed.”
Wilson served 10 years in Congress representing the Albuquerque-based 1st District from 1998 until 2009. She ran for the U.S. Senate last November but lost in the general election to then-Rep. Martin Heinrich, a Democrat. The future of New Mexico’s nuclear weapons labs was a key issue in the Senate race.
Former Sen. Jeff Bingaman, a New Mexico Democrat who chaired the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, told the Journal in November that simply shuttering the NNSA might not be a bad idea.
“I’ve always had problems with the NNSA as another level of bureaucracy between the secretary of energy and the labs,” Bingaman said. “It doesn’t give me any heartburn to think that we would revisit the decision to set up the NNSA. I think it would make some sense.”
New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez, who met with NNSA Acting Administrator Neile L. Miller in Washington last month, praised Wilson’s appointment to the commission as “good news for New Mexico.”
“Heather Wilson understands the contributions of our national labs to national security, and I’m glad New Mexico will have such a great advocate at the table,” Martinez said.
In an email to the Journal today, Jay Coghlin, director of Nuke Watch New Mexico, criticized the appointment, noting that Wilson has had private contracts at Sandia in the past and said she would advocate for more bloated budgets at the labs.
“Given the long string of chronic cost overruns and security infractions, diminished federal oversight and greater autonomy for privatized corporate nuclear weapons contractors is the wrong direction,” Coghlin said. “Don’t expect Heather Wilson to help the American taxpayer correct that direction. “
Coghlin is always firing shots at the NM labs and in all the noise it is easy to ignore him one more time. He has something real this time and it could turn out to be a big headache for all involved. How much money has Wilson taken from SNL and LANL and what did the taxpayers get in return for those payments?
By Michael Coleman
ABQ Journal Washington Bureau
Fri, Mar 1, 2013
POSTED: 11:59 am
LAST UPDATED: 1:29 pm
U.S. House Speaker John Boehner on Thursday appointed former Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., to a new commission that will recommend ways to improve the performance of the National Nuclear Security Administration, the federal agency that oversees Sandia and Los Alamos National Laboratories.
The 12-member commission was established late last year through legislation introduced by Sens. Tom Udall, D-N.M., and Jon Kyl, an Arizona Republican who retired at the end of 2012. It was unclear late Thursday who the other 11 commission members will be.
The panel will “assess the feasibility and advisability of, and make recommendations with respect to, revising the governance structure of the National Nuclear Security Administration,” according to the bill that created it.
The commission will make specific recommendations, including how to improve scientific work, safety and employee retention. The panel will also explore ways to diversify the national labs’ missions and consider whether oversight of the nation’s nuclear weapons complex should “remain with the administration or be transferred to another agency.” Some NNSA critics have suggested the nuclear weapons labs should fall under the purview of the Department of Defense, not the Department of Energy
Wilson’s appoinment comes at a time when the NNSA – now part of the DOE – is under increasing scrutiny as its budgets have expanded, and some in Congress have questioned the national laboratories’ priorities and performance. Udall and some other members of New Mexico’s congressional delegation have repeatedly said the labs should adjust their mission to include more research and development of clean energy technologies.
“It (the NNSA) has had a lot of problems,” Wilson said in a Journal interview Thursday. “It cost a lot of money, it’s ineffective and it’s not working. So, in some way it has to be fixed.”
Wilson served 10 years in Congress representing the Albuquerque-based 1st District from 1998 until 2009. She ran for the U.S. Senate last November but lost in the general election to then-Rep. Martin Heinrich, a Democrat. The future of New Mexico’s nuclear weapons labs was a key issue in the Senate race.
Former Sen. Jeff Bingaman, a New Mexico Democrat who chaired the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, told the Journal in November that simply shuttering the NNSA might not be a bad idea.
“I’ve always had problems with the NNSA as another level of bureaucracy between the secretary of energy and the labs,” Bingaman said. “It doesn’t give me any heartburn to think that we would revisit the decision to set up the NNSA. I think it would make some sense.”
New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez, who met with NNSA Acting Administrator Neile L. Miller in Washington last month, praised Wilson’s appointment to the commission as “good news for New Mexico.”
“Heather Wilson understands the contributions of our national labs to national security, and I’m glad New Mexico will have such a great advocate at the table,” Martinez said.
In an email to the Journal today, Jay Coghlin, director of Nuke Watch New Mexico, criticized the appointment, noting that Wilson has had private contracts at Sandia in the past and said she would advocate for more bloated budgets at the labs.
“Given the long string of chronic cost overruns and security infractions, diminished federal oversight and greater autonomy for privatized corporate nuclear weapons contractors is the wrong direction,” Coghlin said. “Don’t expect Heather Wilson to help the American taxpayer correct that direction. “
Coghlin is always firing shots at the NM labs and in all the noise it is easy to ignore him one more time. He has something real this time and it could turn out to be a big headache for all involved. How much money has Wilson taken from SNL and LANL and what did the taxpayers get in return for those payments?
Comments
We've run out of options for ways to fix this mess.
http://www.sfreporter.com/santafe/article-7028-this-is-heather-wils.html
March 2, 2013 at 1:09 PM
Did you just wake up from a year long coma? Seems like that there is a Congressional hearing every week to investigate Nun-gate at Y-12. It is clear that DoE does not have the correct idea how to run security for a CAT 1 nuclear facility that is not within a base.
That being said, it was the Republicans during the Bush years that gave us this hideous disaster called NNSA, and the for-profit LLC Lab management, bought and paid for by generous campaign contributions.
The winners of the contracts were winners for a reason. The losers were the employees and taxpayers.
March 2, 2013 at 3:01 PM
DOE does not run Y-12 security - NNSA does. Apart from that, how does your statement provide evidence that DoD can do security at CAT 1 nuclear facilities? Try to stay focussed.
March 2, 2013 at 8:48 PM
Spoken like a true NIFer. In case you haven't noticed, the claim that NIF has anything to do with fusion has been thoroughly debunked. Laughable. EoS and strength, baby!!
March 2, 2013 at 4:10 PM
True, true. A thoroughly ultra-liberal rag. With a female columnist who writes rapturously about the "taste of semen." Typical Santa Fe - the San Francisco of the southwest.
We've run out of options for ways to fix this mess.
March 2, 2013 at 12:47 PM"
It is not going to happen. The moment they start thinking about all the problems it is going cause. By the way DOD has just as many if not more problems than the DOE.
"
Even if the review panel gets the 'right' answer, it will have the appearance of a conflict of interest. For those inclined to untangle just how conflicted Wilson is in this matter, take a look at the SF Reporter article:
http://www.sfreporter.com/santafe/article-7028-this-is-heather-wils.html
March 2, 2013 at 2:21 PM"
I am no fan of Heather Wilson but sfreporter is just not a series news journal. I read it myself when it is free for the smut and crazy stuff but come on, no one takes this magazine seriously.
Why believe this latest commission will be any different from the others? The stifling bureaucracy, rising cost of doing business and incredibly bloated management structure continues to increase to higher and higher levels.
March 4, 2013 at 9:12 PM
Why not? What do you believe is the force making them all the same? Internal or external? Without a logical basis your beief is just superstition. Or perhaps a self-fulfilling prophesy.
March 5, 2013 at 7:55 PM
No one is arguing with historical data. Just with the notion that it predicts the future.
Only a fool ignores historical data and believes "this time it's different".
March 8, 2013 at 1:51 PM
Specious argument. Simple, predictable cause-and-effect is not "historical data." I guess you believe all the people on this panel are untrustworthy, devious, venal, lying idiots who don't care a whit about the task they've been asked to take on. Pretty sick approach to life and to other people's honor.