Re: D'Agostino's re-appointment as NNSA head: I demand to see Tom D'Agostino's birth certificate! Dr. Chu needs to re-count the votes on this awful decision.
'Nuff said.
--Doug
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37 comments:
Tom D'Agostino wasn't born... he was hatched by a snake.
Tom D'Agostino's birth certificate?
Hell, after this bad decision I demand to see Dr. Chu's birth certificate. This latest decision of his must be some sort of evil Communist plot.
Take a good look at the recent bru-ha-ha over the ugly Wackenhut ArmorGroup fiasco at the US Embassy in Afghanistan.
That's the future of government for-profit privatization of formerly non-profit national security operations:
Lewd Hazing at US Embassy in Kabul
http://abcnews.go.com/
Blotter/popup?id=8475646
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/
6129140/US-embassy-staff-
investigated-over-Lord-of-the-
Flies-parties.html
Party hearty and try not to piss in the beer!!! America has become little more than a sick joke to the rest of the world. Capitalism has finally run amok.
Doug, I'm beginning to believe that your assessment of the situation at LANL and NNSA is most likely correct. Bummer.
OK, so the birth certficate puts D'Ago at 46 years of age. Clearly we have a imposter and a fraud! Will the real D'Ago please stand up and be counted? Is it possible, just possible, that Mikey is actually D'Ago? That would explain a lot!
I guess any plans Chu might have to fix DOE don't include the NNSA labs. Glad I'm gone from LANL; you're on your own, fellas.
Where is the value-added in this discussion?
It's right next to the value added by NNSA and LANS, LLC, 6:05.
U.S. Rethinks Nuclear Strategy
AviationWeek: Sep 3, 2009
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_channel.jsp?channel=defense&id=news/NUKE090309.xml&headline=U.S.%20Rethinks%20Nuclear%20Strategy
“Veteran technologist John Foster, who started at Livermore in 1948, is more direct. "If the labs are not permitted to practice design, then the development of any warhead can't assume competence and proficiency, and a credible deterrent cannot be maintained.”
“If there is one big upside to the development of an RRW, aside from hedging against unexpected aging issues, it is summed up as "surety." A great deal of the cost of sustaining nuclear weapons has to do with safeguarding against accidents and theft. But if the weapon were made inherently safer (for instance, by using even more insensitive explosives) and virtually impossible to exploit if stolen, it would be much easier to handle.”
Could there be hope for the RRW/WR1 – most likely not, but at least there appears to be some recognition the debate context should be based on the four(4) fundamentals of Nuclear Weapons Surety (Safety, Security, Reliability, & Control) not just one(Reliability).
I think that this reappointment is more evidence that Chu is clueless.
"I think that this reappointment is more evidence that Chu is clueless."
I would guess that's why he was selected.
There was a tiny bit of hope for improvement at LANL, until yesterday when Chu proved that he is satisfied with the course that NNSA has been chosen for us. I hope the rest of you like plutonium, because that and compliance is our job now.
Whoever it was who recently said the perception in Washington is that LANL is just a run-down bomb lab was apparently correct.
Mid-summer there was lots of talk about how Dr. Chu had started an ambitious program to "clean out" his department of the risk adverse, micro-managing DOE bureaucrats. He was going to really shake things up at the DOE. Everyone remember that story?
Well, I guess he changed his mind.
He (Lewis) anticipates the nuclear agency and national laboratories would likely remain in "a death spiral of sorts," hampered by "incompetent" management and "shrinking budgets."
("Potential Action on Nuclear Agency Reform Deferred to Year's End", GSN Aug 24 '09)
---
Yep. With this latest bad decision from DOE, that quote above pretty much sums up the situation.
Very depressing news...
It seems no one cares about the future of the NNSA physics labs.
The employees at LANL need something to cheer them up a bit after this dismal news from DOE.
I know, let's have a fun-filled LANS Fall Festival! Bechtel will generously cover the cost of the half-sized hotdogs and polluted water drinks. See ya' there!
- MIKEY
D'Agostino To Stay As Nuclear Boss - ABQ Journal, Sept 4 2009
By John Fleck
Journal Staff Writer
Bush administration holdover Tom D'Agostino will stay on as head of the National Nuclear Security Administration, the White House announced Thursday.
In a statement, President Barack Obama called D'Agostino "tremendously valuable to my administration as we work to tackle our challenges at home and abroad."
D'Agostino took over the NNSA, the federal agency that manages Los Alamos and Sandia National Labs, in August 2007. He is the author of the agency's "Complex Transformation" effort, a plan to consolidate nuclear weapons research, development and manufacturing. The effort includes a proposal to make Los Alamos the nation's primary research and manufacturing site for plutonium components in U.S. nuclear weapons.
Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., said D'Agostino will play an important role in ensuring the labs are able to work on a broad range of national problems.
"I believe Tom D'Agostino understands our laboratories' capabilities very well, will support strengthening their science resources, and ensuring they play a pivotal role for the nation," Bingaman said in a statement.
www.abqjournal.com/news/state/042331412281newsstate09-04-09.htm
~~~~~~~~~~~
Sen. Bingamin is an blabbering idiot. Be sure to send in your letters to our distinguished New Mexico Senator and include a sentence that tells him to please STFU! What a moronic fool this man is. I'm not sure who is worse... Sen. Bingamin or Sen. Udall. It's a toss up between the two.
I demand to see Senator Bingamin's birth certificate!
I predict a sudden increase in the volume of mail at the Los Alamos post office as a surge of resumes are mailed out next week.
Let's just turn the LANL management contract over to Wackenhut, descend down to the very bottom, and finally be done with it. There is no need to delay this fiasco any longer, Dr. Chu. At least we can go out with a wild corporate sponsored orgy.
***
Oak Ridge guards still ‘on call’ for Kabul - Knoxville News, September 4th 2009
OAK RIDGE — Amid an emerging security scandal at the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan, a Wackenhut Services Inc. spokeswoman said Thursday the Oak Ridge security contractor continues to maintain a contingency force of guards who’ve volunteered to serve in Kabul if needed.
"I predict a sudden increase in the volume of mail at the Los Alamos post office as a surge of resumes are mailed out next week."
Be sure & post back as to the results of your prediction.
Assuming that Senator Bingaman shares your views of NNSA management ("Sen. Bingamin is an blabbering idiot."), I would still expect him not to burn bridges in public.
Or maybe you would like him to insult the NNSA head? That would surely result in extra funds to New Mexico.
"It seems no one cares about the future of the NNSA physics labs.
9/4/09 11:19 AM"
No, Chu the screw cares very much about our future -- he wants us to disappear. And, d'Ag da dog (junkyard variety) is the quickest means to that end!
D'Agastino is a zero. The fact that he remains in charge should be a very strong message to those below.
Thus far Chu is 0 for 2 on issues that matter. Yucca Mountain. Gone. Dumbshits in charge. Stay.
"Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., said D'Agostino will play an important role in ensuring the labs are able to work on a broad range of national problems" - ABQ Journal
Ha-ha-ha-haaaa. No he won't. NNSA and D'Agostino have no interest in diversifying LANL away from their primary mission for this lab... pit production.
It's amazing that so many people on this blog don't seem to know that pit production is scheduled to step down its budget from $150M to $100M in FY10. You can talk all you want about LANL being a pit factory, but the fact is that it's still a significantly smaller program than LDRD ($180M).
"Assuming that Senator Bingaman shares your views of NNSA management ("Sen. Bingamin is an blabbering idiot."), I would still expect him not to burn bridges in public.
Or maybe you would like him to insult the NNSA head? That would surely result in extra funds to New Mexico."
How about this. Assuming that Senator Bingamin has integrity, maybe he shouldn't continue to support both in word and deed a man who has worked hard to destroy the National Labs. Perhaps Senator Bingamin should take some responsibility for the situation as it is, modify his apathetic behavior, and work to install a capable management structure before it is too late. Instead I think we all know we can expect him to cater to Bechtel's every whim and produce meaningless sound bites at every turn while National security is abandoned and taxpayer dollars are squandered.
"Take a good look at the recent bru-ha-ha over the ugly Wackenhut ArmorGroup fiasco at the US Embassy in Afghanistan."
-9/3/09 11:16 PM
Funny you should bring that up, but last Sunday morning (about 1:30AM) I was driving home from a party. As I drove past the Otowi building towards the Jemez, I saw a bunch of naked guys prancing around outside near the National Security Building. The area is pretty well lighted so I could clearly see only one brown butt in the bunch, and he kept rubbing up against a short squat hairy guy that kind of looked like an Ewok. I figured I'd had one martini too many and was seeing things. Now I have to wonder.
"I'm not sure who is worse... Sen. Bingamin or Sen. Udall. It's a toss up between the two."
Answer: Senator Plutonium Pete
Amen 9:31 am.
where's the article about the East Jemes/Diamond Dr. guard posts being UNMANNED after like $25M wasted on destroying the roads and creating a moronic bottleneck there?
Hello Frank,
Here is evidence that training is not limited to LANL. However, this training may be more useful, and LANS managers may have already taken it!
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20090905p2a00m0na010000c.html
Yakuza group forcing members to take 'gangster exam'
OTSU -- Japan's largest and most notorious organized crime group, the Yamaguchi-gumi, is forcing members to take a "gangster exam" in order to reduce costly damages suits, police have discovered.
An affiliate based in Shiga Prefecture is distributing written tests on the revised Anti-Organized Crime Law, which allows higher-ranking gang members to be sued for the actions of their subordinates, as a preventative measure against future lawsuits. Police believe the test has been introduced by Yamaguchi-gumi groups across the country.
Police first discovered the test during an investigation of a member of the affiliate. A 12-question exam paper, complete with model answers, was among the items confiscated.
Questions included "What kind of activities are banned?" with "dumping industrial waste; bootlegging fuel; theft of construction vehicles and other expensive items; phone fraud scams" etc. listed as the correct answers.
The model answer to the final question, "What are you required to do in all your activities?" was: "report and consul with my bosses."
"Former Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean said Sunday that the resignation of White House green jobs adviser Van Jones is a "loss for the country."
If I had Van Jones's background I could not qualify for a Q Clearance.
Hummm...no wonder they want LANL to die - it's full of Q Clearance people rather than Communist.
As the US nuclear weapons complex shrinks under a badly run NNSA, it's worthwhile to keep an eye on Iran.
While no one is paying attention, news reports indicate they are very close to final development of a nuclear bomb. Israel will likely have to act soon if they are to have any success at stopping Iran from completion of their bomb project. The world stage may be about to get very hairy sooner than most people realize:
---
U.S. Says Iran Could Expedite Nuclear Bomb
By David E. Sanger, Sep 11 '09
WASHINGTON -- American intelligence agencies have concluded in recent months that Iran has created enough nuclear fuel to make a rapid, if risky, sprint for a nuclear weapon. But new intelligence reports delivered to the White House say that the country has deliberately stopped short of the critical last steps to make a bomb.
The New York Times put out this report late Wednesday night, but upon reading the entirety of the article, it looks like press action has been planted by various interests from Washington to Tel Aviv to raise the pressure on Iran, not actually recognize or confront the problem as described.
A PR offensive will not deter Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from continuing work on a bomb, which is why some intelligence experts believe only a real offensive will do the trick.
www.thestreet.com/story/10597545/1/
insana-irans-a-time-bomb.html
"no one is paying attention"
Really?
Then where did your news article come from? Ahmedinejad-Clause? The nuke fairy?
Apropos of no one paying attention, perhaps a new top-level post about the newest management attempt at an employee survey would be worthwhile.
Each employee was sent an e-mail with a unique password only that employee can use to fill in the survey.
Lab management claims it's totally anonymous, yet the unique password can trace each response back to an individual. Anonymous indeed! (Never mind if it's filled in on an employee's own workstation, the IP address could be used to attempt to trace the responses back to the same individual.)
Add on that a broadcast e-mail with embedded links to all employees from an unknown outside firm inviting employees to participate piles on the stupidity by violating the latest admonitions about cyber security and never clicking on links in e-mails, plus embedding a password into a clear-text e-mail that only one person is supposed to use.
It's apparent a large part of the lab never suffers under the yoke of the suffocating security and safety regulations and audits, and makes it apparent to all by flying in the face of everything the rest of us are required to deal with.
I mean, after all we're subjected to, how incredibly stupid is submitting to the Lab population a survey asking people if they trust lab management while simultaneously expecting us to believe their obviously traceable survey is anonymous?
The way this survey has been handled is the most perfect example I've seen yet of what is actually wrong with the Laboratory and its management.
"The way this survey has been handled is the most perfect example I've seen yet of what is actually wrong with the Laboratory and its management." - 6:56 PM
So, let them know exactly how you feel. Face it, you probably have nothing to lose at this point in time. Might as well vent and let off some steam by filling out the survey.
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