Flaws in US nuclear blast equation

 A nuclear blast equation used by the US military for decades to guide the construction of bombproof shelters is not always accurate, according to a new study by Chinese researchers.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3115360/china-research-finds-flaws-us-nuclear-blast-equation-protect

Jennifer Granholm and the awesome Department of Energy

 By L. King, White House Chronicle 

December 19, 2020

President-elect Joe Biden’s decision to nominate Jennifer Granholm — former governor of Michigan, lawyer, politician and television host — to be the next secretary of energy is curious.

The idea circulating is that her primary assignment, in Biden’s mind, will be to speed Detroit’s development of electric vehicles.

FULL ARTICLE

More on Biden and Nuc spending

 WSJ: Biden to Review U.S. Nuclear-Weapons Programs, With Eye Toward Cuts

https://www.wsj.com/articles/biden-to-review-u-s-nuclear-weapons-programs-with-eye-toward-cuts-11608805800

WASHINGTON—The incoming Biden administration is planning a review of the nation’s $1.2 trillion nuclear-modernization program with an eye toward trimming funding for nuclear weapons and reducing their role in Pentagon strategy.
President-elect Joe Biden promised during the campaign to reduce the U.S.’s “excessive expenditure” on nuclear arms and criticized President Trump’s decision to develop new sea-based weapons, including a submarine-launched cruise missile.

The new administration is also likely to review the Pentagon’s decision to develop a new land-based intercontinental ballistic missile, which is estimated to cost more than $100 billion when its warhead is included, some former officials said.
“We have to modernize our deterrent,” said one former official. “But we cannot spend the amount of money that is currently being allocated.”
The expectation that Mr. Biden will take a fresh look at the modernization programs has spurred a debate over the future of the U.S. nuclear deterrent.

The debate has also been driven by Mr. Biden’s campaign pledge to narrow the role that nuclear weapons play in the U.S. military doctrine, stating that their “sole purpose” should be to deter or respond to a nuclear attack.

Biden to review excessive Nuc spending

https://www.wsj.com/articles/biden-to-review-u-s-nuclear-weapons-programs-with-eye-toward-cuts-11608805800 

 

Prediction: NW spending will double every 2-3 years nonetheless leaving us with reductions in conventional forces. Hiring will increase by 20% every year. NNSA will become a third rail immune to cuts because of its job program nature.

COVID relief and LANL and LLNL

Does LLNL or LANL get any money from the Covid relief package. I mean they have stuff in there for transgendered restrooms in Pakistan and miss, tax deductions for three martini lunches, funding for a women's museum, money to stop doping in horse racing, tax breaks for NASCAR. I figures the NNSA labs have to be in there somewhere, maybe some money for computer security? Perhaps not.

More about the scandal

The hackers have been able to do more damage at FERC than the other agencies, and officials there have evidence of highly malicious activity, the officials said, but did not elaborate. The officials said that the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which has been helping to manage the federal response to the broad hacking campaign, indicated to FERC this week that CISA was overwhelmed and might not be able to allocate the necessary resources to respond. DOE will therefore be allocating extra resources to FERC to help investigate the hack, even though FERC is a semi-autonomous agency, the officials said. Several top officials from CISA, including its former director Christopher Krebs, have either been pushed out by the Trump administration or resigned in recent weeks. "Federal investigators have been combing through networks in recent days to determine what hackers had been able to access and/or steal, and officials at DOE still don’t know whether the attackers were able to access anything, the people said, noting that the investigation is ongoing and they may not know the full extent of the damage “for weeks.” Shaylyn Hynes, a DOE spokesperson, said that an ongoing investigation into the hack has found that the perpetrators did not get into critical defense systems. "At this point, the investigation has found that the malware has been isolated to business networks only, and has not impacted the mission essential national security functions of the department, including the National Nuclear Security Administration," Hynes said in a statement. " ------------------------------------------------- So basically 90% of Sandia and Los Alamos have been compromised? Ok that was a bit of exaggeration but 50% if more of the labs is this weird overhead stuff that does nothing from anyone can tell. Maybe an upside is that it will be seen that much of the excess non technical junk at the labs will be trimmed since it will be seen as a vulnerability. I have been in this system for some time and since the since the late 80s and 90s there has been an explosion of "businesses" "massive site offices", "HR" "Diversity", "procurement, "bizarre job titles" "outreach", and just endless weird jobs that no one understands. Just a massive bloat of crap to dissipate money. So that point is that all this extra stuff is what was vulnerable to attack. Who what of thought of that? Oh yea like very computer vulnerability person at the labs but they just get in the way.

MICROSOFT hacked! Sad!

There is a sad part to the massive Los Alamos hacking. It is that Microsoft products that where hacked. The LANL scientists have been fighting Microsoft for some time but as more and more non-scientists started to dominate LANL there was more push to make everything Microsoft. I think LANL now down to 17% technical workforce so that is what 80% Microsoft with a big push that everything should just be Microsoft. Just something to think about.