LLNL - The True Story -

Report says Los Alamos National Lab Failed to Protect Classified Information Updated: 01/28/2015 10:12 PM | Created: 01/28/2015 9:19 PM  By: Danielle Todesco, KOB Eyewitness News 4 It has just been one problem after another for the Los Alamos National Laboratory as of late. This week alone, several of those problems are in the headlines. The latest problem out of LANL is a new report obtained by our partners at the Santa Fe New Mexican. It shows that a classification officer at LANL failed to protect classified information, and because of that, there were six different incidents where information involving national security was wrongly released. It is also hard to forget the radiation leak at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, which was blamed on LANL. Investigators say workers at LANL started using a different kind of kitty litter for packing, which caused a barrel to burst. State Representative David Gallegos says he hopes to work with the representative who serves Lo...

State: LANL, WIPP will face steeper fines By Patrick Malone, The New Mexican January 28, 2015 http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/legislature/state-lanl-wipp-will-face-steeper-fines/article_d4d6ff20-f04b-54e9-b52a-fb319dcb2187.html The New Mexico Environment Department is preparing to levy more fines against Los Alamos National Laboratory that would dwarf the already steep penalties the lab faces for its role in last year’s radiation leak at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, state Environment Secretary Ryan Flynn told lawmakers on Wednesday. The threat to impose more fines could give the state leverage in ongoing negotiations over the $54.3 million in fines assessed so far against the U.S. Department of Energy and its private contractors that operate LANL and WIPP. “We were conservative in the fines we assessed. There’s really, from my perspective, very little negotiating room in terms of a downward adjustment of the fines we assessed,” Flynn told The New Mexican after t...

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jan/29/us-nuclear-scientist-secretly-taped-by-fbi-claiming-he-could-bomb-new-york So... this is what you guys do on your off time?

What's all this talk about Goldstein and his whip?

Dear Scooby. Keep up the great work! There is no "real" communication at the Labs, only smoke and mirrors.

Here is the preliminary report by the IG following their investigation into wrong doings by LANLs  Classification Officer. Your readers might find it very interesting because the first incident described gives some background into the events that led up to the firing of the LANL scientist who inadvertently publishing something classified. Unfortunately, some things never change. Between the time this investigation began and the time the report came out, the CO was allowed to retire, and the DL and AD that knew about these events, but took no action, have been promoted to AD and PAD. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9eIrcyRIQxyS1RGWXVJT2c5Y25JVWlPSGgtTV9HNGRQMzNV/view?usp=sharing

 Santa Fe, New Mexican, Saturday, January 24, 2015 WHITE ROCK — For years, workers at Los Alamos National Laboratory dumped canisters, drums and other containers of liquid chemical waste into shafts on a mesa bordering this small town near the birthplace of the atomic bomb. The containers leaked, creating a plume of toxic chemical vapor that has been seeping through tiny pores in soil and volcanic rock in a slow march toward regional groundwater and the Rio Grande. A citizens advisory board approved a proposal in 2010 for the lab to clean up the plume by releasing the vapors into the air. The proposal presented to the board included using carbon filters to collect most of the contaminants. The lab would then ship the filters to a toxic waste dump in Utah. But the cleanup began recently with the lab releasing the gases directly into the air without the filters. The state’s Environment Department approved the change without public notice. The lab and the state say a public hearing wa...

Was the culture of reprisal at LANSLLNS a contributing factor to the ~0.5 billion dollar WIPP environmental disaster? Were experienced lab employees reluctant to speak up when it could have made a difference in the WIPP outcome?

Aside from the existing Special Exposure Cohort benefit for all Lawrence Livermore National Lab workers from the 1950 to 1973 period, covering them for certain specified cancers and beryllium disease, I’ve authored and got a new petition officially qualified to potentially cover workers from 1974 through 1995. This news was published in the Federal Register this past week. http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/ocas/llnl.html#pet221   What it means is the beginning of a funded study which hopefully will result in a new cohort becoming law, perhaps by 2016, and potentially covering all or part of the 1974 to 1995 study period for all LLNL employees, Livermore and Tracy. This could have very positive impacts on certain prior denied claims, pending claims and of course new claims and allowing Frowiss to now represent you will assure your claim gets the best priority and treatment.   Albert B. Frowiss, Sr., is an independent EEOICPA claims advocate doing these specialized claims...

1 The LANL director steps down in mid 2015 as more WIPP revelations com out. 2 Bechtel is no longer interested in running the labs and lets it be known that they will not rebid and that it is cannot change a persistent troubled culture at the labs. 3 Congress investigates and concludes that the labs are out of control, and demand a downsizing along with increased federal oversight in the form of TYGER teams. 4 RIFs across the complex as the Congress and the public demand blood. 5 A new agency is formed that will run the NW program. No private contractor will get near the labs unless they get paid 300 million or more, due to the cultural problem at the labs.  6 the complex is reduced to 1/3 its size and what is left is mostly oversight. A consortium comprised of various companies now runs the operation. Cost skyrocket. The new CC (Culture Crusher) program goes into effect.

Word has it, A and B divisions at LLNL are going to be merged under one umbrella. What is driving this? Seems like a match made in hell.

Los Alamos has highest fraction of millionaires in US Once again, this explains much about why deaf ears are turned to the requests for more money for LANL. When the average person in the country is barely able to make ends meet in today's economy, the trend in Congress is to spend more federal funds to help out lower income people. It is a guarantee that funding for the nuclear weapons complex will continue to decrease, unless some powerful politician comes up with a scheme to build a new facility in their backyard. Since NM does not have any politicians in DC with any clout, LANL buildings will continue to decay. On the bright side, some disproportionately rich folks can watch the decay in their own backyard. http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2015/01/21/where-are-americas-millionaires/

Are LANL retirees being forced onto Obamacare? "In Human Resources, an approved move to retiree health care exchanges that could yield savings has not been implemented." The above is from page 23 of the annual performance evaluation report. What does it mean?

The value of NNSA Field Offices at LANL and LLNL? What is the value added of the NNSA Local Field Offices at LANL and LLNL? How have LANS and LLNS operations, efficiencies, and business practices materially improved with NNSA on site presence? Are the NNSA Field Office staff active and impartial evaluators, or passive transcribers of lab contractor activities? Does it take DOE IG investigations (LANS Deputy Director, WIPP, etc.) to get the NNSA Field Offices to finally act against "established relationships" with their assigned contractor? 

LANL Leadership reviews are harsh LANS 2014 performance evaluation review is now posted in full Leadership: During the performance period, the Laboratory was operationally, reputationally, and financially impacted by several issues. Deficiencies in regulatory compliance and in the physical management of transuranic waste streams contributed to or resulted in the closure of the only waste repository serving the Department of Energy. The impacts include the diversion of key staff from mission work, huge financial costs to the Department of Energy that are still accumulating, failure to meet environmental commitments made to the State of New Mexico, damage to an important relationship with a key state regulatory body, broad adverse economic impacts associated with the suspension of normal operations at the Waste Isolation Pilot Project, and a degredation of public confidence in the conduct of nuclear and high hazard operations at the Laboratory. Throughout the performance period, nuclear ...

1/18/15 by Robert Alvarez Bulletin of Atomic Scientists http://thebulletin.org/rebranding-nuclear-weapons-complex-wont-reform-it7935 He's clearly not a fan of the Congressional Advisory Board's recommendations for fixing the NWC.  He rightly notes the clear conflict of interest at having so many members of this board with current direct involvement in the LLCs running NNSA sites. I have a sense that this has really undercut the reception in Congress their report. Doesn't seem like anything is going to happen.  I hope that some on this blog will post their comments - for or against - on his column. More in the public and media probably read the Bulletin than this blog, and they really need an education on what's happened to the NWC at the hands of NNSA.

Taken from  NNSA Head Warns of Budget Cuts : So, can I look forward to a "retirement incentive" in FY2016 at LLNL? Anyone want to weigh in on this one!

How do Bob (retired) and Jennifer compare in their Staff Relations roles in terms of people skills, emotional intelligence, situational empathy, objectively, and ability to work with LLNS employees in good faith?

2014 fellows of the American Physical Society were announced recently. Here a count from DOE labs... LLNL - 10 LBNL - 9 LANL - 9 Argonne - 5 Brookhaven - 3 Fermi - 3 PNNL - 3 Jeff Lab - 2 ORNL - 2 SLAC - 1 SNL - 1

NNSA head warns of budget cuts Sequestration is a discussion that many thought was over. Dan Mayfield - Biz Journals January 13, 2015 But Lt. Gen. Frank G. Klotz, USAF (retired), who is the administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration, said Tuesday it's a real possibility in 2016, and he's sounding the alarm. According to the Department of Defense, current law requires sequestration to resume in fiscal year 2016. Klotz said the NNSA shares its budget with the Department of Defense. "If there are mandated reductions, that will affect us," Klotz told Business First. "We're watching that very carefully and arguing it's very important to maintain America's arsenal at the same time and reduce nuclear threats."

LLNL in 30-60 months  In 30-60 months will LLNL have growing programs, static programs, or a shrinking mission with an opportunistic self-deport and increasingly leery workforce?

LANL leadership merits harsh evaluation in the LANS 2014 performance evaluation report. "During the performance period the Loratory was operationally, reputationally, and financially impacted by several issues. Deficiencies in regulatory compliance and in the physical management of transuranic waste streams contributed to or resulted in the closure of the only waste repository serving the Department of Energy. The impacts include the diversion of key staff from mission work, huge financial costs to the Department of Energy that are still accumulating, failure to meet environmental commitments made to the State of New Mexico, damage to an important relationship with a key state regulatory body, broad adverse economic impacts associated with the suspension of normal operations at the Waste Isolation Pilot Project, and a degredation of public confidence in the conduct of nuclear and high hazard operations at the Laboratory. Throughout the performance period, nuclear operations were ...

How do Livermore Lab Directors Miller, Albright, and Goldstein stack up?

What we have here are disgruntled males who can't handle working with women, and certainly not having us as your bosses. We'll get used to it.  This is all payback for the "good old boys" over the past several decades. It's now our turn to determine the next few decades, and not run it into the ground like you boys. If you don't like it, leave so we can replace you with some talented women.

POGO's take on LANL contract Charles F. McMillan, director of the Los Alamos lab, sent a memo to his 6,000 employees last week that stressed the positive, despite having received one of the worst fee reductions in the department's history. "Although this was a very tough year for the laboratory, I am optimistic that next year will be better," he wrote. "I am determined to do all that I can to make it so." Outside analysts and watchdog groups said the reduction in profits was surprisingly tough, especially given the Energy Department's history of letting contractors escape accountability for errors and failures. "This was supposed to be one of the top research laboratories in the nation, but they lost classified documents, couldn't manage their plutonium inventories and failed to control costs on major projects," said Peter Stockton, a senior investigator for the Project on Government Oversight and a former advisor to the office of the secre...

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/energy-department-contests-m-in-fines-for-wipp-leak/article_a7c1ad5b-3416-5abe-9987-3960f0664abd.html

Who are the top 3 mangers in LLNS Engineering that have either failed as leaders, have acted in a manner unsuitable for a leadership role, or were just plain unqualified for senior management?

Who is the most hated man ever in the US nuclear weapons complex?

Historically (UC/LLNL days to late 2012) subcontractors were the explicitly identified buffer for career FTEs during mild to significant budget fluctuations, and subcontractor pay (Akima, etc.) was adjusted upward accordingly.  Today everyone is "at will". Why would a career FTE with in demand SKAs elect to work in programs with a high percentage of Akima contractor workforce historically associated with large lay offs now? A career FTE may have an EIT/EBA period before facing an "individual RIF", but why intentionally place oneself in such an unstable work environment referenced to historically stable programs at LLNL? Through workforce policy changes, did LLNS Management opt for maximum on the spot keep/remove employee discretion in exchange for perceived program instability to current or prospective career FTEs? 

UC Pension Troubles. Might be a good thing that TCP-1 was split out... http://www.nationalreview.com/article/395685/ucs-pension-fiasco-lawrence-j-mcquillan

Fact: LLNS Staff Relations activities, practices, and performance are outside of the annual NNSA LFO "Performance Evaluation Report" grading metrics. LLNS Staff Relations actions and performance are NOT evaluated by the NNSA Livermore Field Office in their annual “Performance Evaluation Report”, independent of stated NNSA Livermore “Employee Concerns Program” directives. The two FOIA requests and DOE/NNSA responses below may be of interest to LLNS and LANS employees.  Background: The FOIA document requests were to be extractions of the NNSA FY 2013 Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC (LLNS) “Performance Evaluation Report” written by the NNSA Livermore Field Office at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for the period of October 2012 through September 2013, under the direction of (former) NNSA Livermore Field Office Manager Kim Davis Lebak. Kim Davis Lebak is now the NNSA Los Alamos Field Office Manager (effective January 2014).  In 2012 and 2013, within the LLNS FY...

It seems like there was some change in the RIF policy made in 2013 and right after this a number of people where let go and continue to be let go. Does anyone know the details of this? I seem to recall that it was discussed before and in the recent lawsuit mentioned on this blog by it says that the person was terminated a week after this change was put into place.

LANS makes the #1 slot for the company with the worst corporate integrity in the story below. It involves the James E. Doyle case in which even the DOE bureaucracy could no longer stomach the sleazy activities and back-stabbing efforts of LANS executives! Heckavajob, Charlie! Bonuses for all the LANS managers for this new lab "achievement": -------------------- The Center's best national security stories from 2014 #1. What happens when a nuclear weapons lab employee criticizes the nuclear arms race? In 2013, former nuclear policy specialist James E. Doyle published an article criticizing the nuclear arms race and defending President Obama's nuclear-free goals. Information in the article, which was reviewed and declared unclassified by Los Alamos National Laboratory, where Doyle worked, has since been declared classified, used to dock Doyle's pay and eventually cost Doyle his job. Experts, including a senior Department official, harbor suspicions that the classific...

Back from the holidays just in time to see this lovely post below from the Los Alamos Daily Post article. The paragraph below in the news article is classic! It's standard operating procedure for many lab managers to totally ignore the policy directives which LANS constantly berates the general staff to obey: "After the holiday break, Ms. Coyne again inquired about the status of any investigation of the assault. Defendant McGuire seemed annoyed and told her she should just forget about the incident. When Ms. Coyne persisted, pointing out that LANL policies required that incidents of workplace violence be taken seriously, McGuire told Ms. Coyne that she was just making trouble and that she needed to “let it go.” Ms. Coyne continued to insist that the assault by Ms. Little be dealt with appropriately, but nothing was done at that time." And even more classic was this post from above: "Tyler Pryzbylek was rehired by NNSA. Load the shotguns." (11:20 pm) Amazing! The...

 DOE and NNSA now believe BOTH weapons labs need a new contractor operational model that moves away from a management profit funding focus, to a research and development funding focus.  The party is over for the bloated layers of LANSLLNS management and their self-compensation feeding frenzy.  http://www.nti.org/gsn/article/nuclear-weapons-complex-reform-could-mean-pay-cut-contractors/

The difference in performance between LANL and LLNL is due entirely to the organizational design and performance of their engineering disciplines. LLNL engineering is strong, active, and self-sustaining. LANL Engineering is haphazard, marginalized and and dependent on individuals.

Tyler Pryzbylek was rehired by NNSA. Load the shotguns.

Will the new operating contract disaster at LANL cause a vindictive and incompetent NNSA to misfire and penalize and completely ***** over LLNL folks as it did the last time LANL was falsely accused of  incompetence  in 2007?

http://www.ladailypost.com/content/former-employee-files-suit-against-lans-co-workers

Will the LANS contract loss to run LANL accelerate the loss or restructuring of the LLNS contract to run LLNL?

LANS lost a year earned earlier Short and sweet letter nails 35M loss in fee and pulls back termination date of contract. http://nnsa.energy.gov/sites/default/files/nnsa/inlinefiles/Contracting%20Officer%20Notice%20of%20Reduction%20of%20LANS%20FY14%20Fixed%20Fee%20and%20Incentive%20Fee.pdf