UPDATE: Dr. Chu's prepared remarks can be downloaded here. An archived video of the confirmation hearing can be viewed here.
[The first 15 minutes and 14 seconds is just a title screen. Fast forward to 15:14 to view the hearing.]
Don't miss the 13 January 2009, 10:00 AM, Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing on the nomination of Steven Chu to be Energy Secretary.
The hearing will be conducted at 366 Dirksen Senate Building, Washington DC.
Video will be webcast on the committee website and on OpenHearings.org; audio only on CapitolHearings.org.
It may also be broadcast and video and audio webcast on C-SPAN2.
Oh, and a heartfelt, LANL blog "Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out!" to Mr. Bodman.
Love,
Frank
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11 comments:
Not sure what Bodman accomplished during his tenure, but let's be real here. I've worked at both DOE and various DOE labs over the last 20 years. So, how does Bodman match up to, say, Hazel O'Leary, or Pena, or Richardson, Abraham? He's surely not at the bottom, likely near the top (of a very low heap)
Admiral Zumwelt would seem to have been the best in the last 20 years.
Update: Retaliation complete.
Yesterday was Rebekkah Aguilar's last day at TA-48 RC-1 per Mary Neu's orders to get rid of the problem. The problem being a very dedicated RCT who made Mary Neu and her husband Wolfgange Runde follow the rules like everyone else. You see in the past Rebekkah caught Neu and spouse breaking the rules and busted them on it. Like a baby elephant, Neu did not forget.
As is typical at LANL, despite lots of big talk, in the end no management stood up for the RCT under direct orders from above that they would pay the price for challenging the great and evil Neu ...
After the hearing is over, I would like to know where to find a transcript.
Thanks.
It will be interesting to see what Dr. Chu has to say about the nuclear weapons complex. It is, after all, about two thirds of all DOE funding.
Dr. Chu doesnt not have much of a say regarding funding, he is only a figure-head. DOE will tell him exactly what to think, and say.
Near as I can tell, Bodman collected his paycheck, added it to his personal millions, and watched the complex continue to fall apart in his hands.
As 'scientist' running the DOE...well, Bodman seems to have run it like disinterested hobbyist.
Dr. Chu was asked almost nothing about the nuclear weapons complex during his entire interview, even though it makes up the majority of the DOE's budget. Unbelievable!
Perhaps it is time to think of moving NNSA over to the DOD, were at least Bob Gates will fight hard to see that it gets properly funded.
1/13/09 9:08 PM
I agree, and Dr. Robert M. Gates served in SAC between 1967-1969, and he believs in nuclear weapons, and understands nuclear weapons strategy, i.e. nuclear deterrence, and its changing dynamics over time, both within the nuclear weapons and the delivery systems, and the threat environment.
The tenor of these posts is puzzling. Domenici is gone but his influence had made LANL a lab that didn't have to compete. As a result, the place was funded by programs like the Neutral Particle Beam (NPB), CO2 Laser fusion and Molecular Laser Isotope Separation (MLIS). Each of these programs was deeply flawed, as was observed during the research phase, and participating scientists knew it. Nevertheless, the programs consumed every additional dollar during the Development phase, always to an ignominious conclusion. Plenty of people outside the lab remember these programs and other, similar programs. It's impossible to conceal this part of LANL history and it's time, as others have said, to work very hard on proposals that will be reviewed only on their merit.
Dr. Chu, I expect will be a strong and critical master. There is no possibility that the lab can remain
as it is without uncritical funding.
There is no possibility that the lab can remain as it is without uncritical funding.
1/15/09 4:56 PM
I agree, 4:56 PM. The easy money days at LANL have passed.
The problem is, those who live off lab overhead don't want to give this easy money up. They'll hold on tight and take the whole lab down with them, if necessary.
That is the fundamental problem at LANL today. It is a problem that management refuses to fix, since they are largely one of the main benefactors of this easy money system.
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