Los Alamos National Laboratory: You know The Real Story. You know The Corporate Story. Now you'll know The Rest of the Story.
Sep 16, 2009
DOE Is Searching For LANL's Budget
They found it on the blog, of course. They also appear to be looking for LANL employee salaries, and for insights into our firefighting capabilities. An interesting combination of searches. Planning a fire sale, perhaps?
Anyone at DOE/NNSA who has any cognizance over these issues doesn't need to use google to find the answers. Low-level DOE flunkies with way too much time on their hands and an internet connection at work (of course none of their access is blocked).
= NNSA Launches Blog to Highlight Administrator's Work At IAEA Conference =
Nuclear Power Industry News, Sep 16, 2009 By Stephen Heiser
The National Nuclear Security Administration has launched a travel blog for online visitors to follow Administrator Thomas D’Agostino and receive updates from his work at the 2009 International Atomic Energy Agency’s 53rd General Conference in Vienna, Austria.
D’Agostino is accompanying Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, who delivered the plenary address to all General Conference attendees. D’Agostino said of the travel blog, “As we continue expanding our use of technology to spread our nuclear security message, I wanted to give folks back home a chance to see the work we’re doing in Vienna to promote President Obama’s historic nuclear security goals.”
In his Prague speech earlier this year, President Obama outlined an agenda that seeks to secure vulnerable nuclear materials worldwide and to reduce the threat of nuclear terrorism. Visitors to the Administrator’s travel blog, located at http://nnsa.energy.gov/news/iaea2009.htm, will find photos and video from the events, as well as links to NNSA’s Facebook and Twitter accounts, where updates will be posted throughout the day.
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Lots of pictures of D'Ag at this special NNSA blog site doing his thing at the IAEA along with Dr. Chu. However, don't stare at Tom's shiny bald head too closely or you're liable to go blind. It's pretty obvious that Chu really likes this guy.
Eureka! The recent political storm over ACORN has given me a brilliant idea. I think I finally know how to get rid of LANS.
Just tape some video of Mikey talking to staff members informing them how they can bring in outside scientific 'whores' to perform research on just about any subject they please to gain a federal buck. Get him to agree to use under-age Post Docs from India to do this seamy research. Send the video off to Fox News and then sit back and watch as Congress ignites with indignation and demands, "Investigate and then throw those Bechtel bums out!".
Too bad there will be no real raise this year at LANL for most employees. Looks like people living in Los Alamos may soon need them...
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"Council adopts 36 percent property tax hike" (LA Monitor)
County councilors expressed surprise and dismay when realization hit that they must approve a 36 percent property tax increase that will affect residents beginning in November.
It is time for Los Alamos to realize what a ridiculously low property tax rate they enjoy. Maybe not for NM, but as compared to the rest of the country, property taxes here are a joke. If the town had to support it's own fire department, we'd have a two-truck / one ambulance volunteer company composed mostly of out-of-shape retirees, just like the rest of the country's towns of this size. No retail tax base means LA will sooner or later have to learn to pay its own way as the Lab shrivels and dies.
"No retail tax base means LA will sooner or later have to learn to pay its own way as the Lab shrivels and dies."
9/17/09 10:12 PM
The County did a bait-and-switch with the bond offering for the Boyer retail development. Instead of a nice retail complex, the County is now building luxury palaces for themselves! On top of this, the County Council just appointed a crook, Tony Mortillaro, as our new county administrator.
At LANS, the employees only have the option of showing their disgust through the use of the Engagement Survey. However, with the Council, they have the option to vote them out.
You people are just a bunch of losers and whiners. It's time to refresh the lab with a new group of employees who are thankful just to have a job, never complain and continually compliment me on my brilliance. Greater attrition is good for LANL (and for ME!!!).
Terry is correct. We don't need you ungrateful, disgruntled PhD scientists. We have plenty of BS-level C students at Bechtel who will be pleased to replaced you.
You know, the anonymous posters who sign themselves as "TERRY" or "MIKEY!" are really getting old. The cleverness has evaporated, and the annoyance factor has grown. Please give it a rest, or try to think of another schtick. Really, you have become boring and stupid.
"I happen to know as a verifiable fact that a lot of support people are not "happy" right now. I'm one of them. Again, I'm not afraid to say it." (Greg Close)
"Please do not categorize any engineers as being "very happy". As an engineer I am miserable for a number of reasons." (6:53 am)
Sounds like the results of this LANS survey may turn out to be very interesting. Has LANS said yet whether they will share all of the results with the employees?
"You know, the anonymous posters who sign themselves as "TERRY" or "MIKEY!" are really getting old. The cleverness has evaporated....Really, you have become boring and stupid." - 10:12 PM
Hey, Mikey, could you please stop with the "Wear shoes that GRIP!" and "LOOK after each other!" shtick that's pasted all over LANL. It's getting a little tiring and old. Really, it has become boring and stupid.
Former Director Sig Hecker won this year's Fermi Award.
Current Director Anastasio wears shoes that GRIP and LOOKs out for his bonus. Now *that* is boring, stupid, and tiresome. It is also the reality of today's LANL. We used to do science. Now we do compliance. In fact, that should be our now lab motto:
Actually, killing the environment to serve society is better. All the paperwork and training (yes, online, but hardcopy proof is ALWAYS required) is generated useless paper for nothing but CYA. Oh yeah, don't get me started on the sexual harassment training. Due before October 1. Hmm. MIKEY/TERRY you bonuses at risk you little f-ers?
Inspector General Gregory Friedman states in a memorandum to Energy Secretary Steven Chu that fire protection at Los Alamos National Laboratory is perennially inadequate.
...DOE officials have testified that it was safety issues that kept LANL shut down for months beginning in July 2004. Also, past objective reviews of LANL’s operations typically concluded that it did not take its safety functions at its nuclear facilities seriously enough.
Now that LANL is the nation's undisputed home of plutonium research and manufacturing, the situation had to improve.
~~~~~~~~ Bullshit!!! It was Pete Nanos who engineered a shut-down over false pretenses that caused the 2004 fiasco. Dr. Chu, you are turning out to be a huge disappointment for most of the scientists still left at the NNSA labs. DOE -- same as it ever was... fatally f*cked-up to the core.
At least DOE got one thing right. LANL is quickly becoming the nation's "Pit Factory" under NNSA and Bechtel/BWXT.
Actually, Anonymous at 9/20/09 4:42 PM is correct about the 2004 stand-down not being a safety issue.
BUT, Admiral Butthead did not do it on his own. It was DOE management that told him to either have a stand-down or the DOE would make it happen.
What really went wrong with the stand-down is that they put people in charge of it who were totally clueless as well as unaccountable for the short-term and long-term costs. The stand-down should not have lasted longer than a week. But, all of a sudden we had these D students making the decisions and they drug out the stand-down as long as they could.
We lost a lot of WFE sponsors due to the stand-down. Some pulled their funding immediately as they did not want to pay us for sitting in the offices doing nothing. It would have been proper to have charged the stand-down to overhead.
5:27 pm: "What really went wrong with the stand-down is that they put people in charge of it who were totally clueless as well as unaccountable for the short-term and long-term costs. The stand-down should not have lasted longer than a week. But, all of a sudden we had these D students making the decisions and they drug out the stand-down as long as they could."
Not quite. Some of the people investigating the "incident" (your "D students") knew the truth within a week or so. It was Nanos who wouldn't accept the truth and kept the standdown going, because he did not want DOE to know how badly he had overreacted in the beginning. Plus, there were a lot of folks (the training and compliance people) who saw a very sweet opportunity to become indispensible and convinced most (not all) of upper management that what DOE wanted was much more paper-based accountability. They still rule LANL.
Here's the deal. If you are a decision-maker, and you totally lack any innate sense of right or wrong, you need to surround yourself with professional ass-coverers, such as lawyers and training specialists. Welcome to the new LANL, which is no longer recognizable to the generations of dedicated scientists, engineers, and respected support folks who made it great. How sad.
the Nanos stand-down was a political move, based on idiotic "evidence" of a security breach, evidence we knew within days was baloney. Yet the stand-down dragged on for months. Nanos never got punished so I assume this came down from DOE/NNSA.
The DOE/NNSA was also responsible for the moronic mangling of the intersection at Otowi bridge and the installation of worthless guard shacks, now unmanned, and rubber speed bumps. $25M and more for this in wasted money.
9/20/09 8:24 PM wrote: "Not quite. Some of the people investigating the "incident" (your "D students") knew the truth within a week or so. It was Nanos who wouldn't accept the truth and kept the standdown going, because he did not want DOE to know how badly he had overreacted in the beginning."
And when the never-ending "Self-Assessment" period actually concluded with reports and recommendations to improve areas like safety or security, many of the reports were shit-canned within moments, the recommendations were rejected outright and en masse, regardless of the logic, transparency and the understanding within the organizations that they were laying bare every fault or vulnerability in order to actually arrive at real remedies to avoid future problems. It would come as no surprise that folks who had diligently followed every newly-developed rule and process to arrive at the mandatory response (Self-assessment reports & recommendation packages) were sent t hinterland-types of assignments with the implied (or stated?) mandate to hush up. A great 'thanks' for the work they had done, no?
"If you are a decision-maker, and you totally lack any innate sense of right or wrong, you need to surround yourself with professional ass-coverers, such as lawyers and training specialists."
Cut backs in the US nuclear arsenal may go much, much deeper than most people are currently expecting. It will be interesting to see how this effects the NNSA labs...
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Barack Obama ready to slash US nuclear arsenal (UK Guardian, Sep 21 '09)
Pentagon told to map out radical cuts as president prepares to chair UN talks
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Barack Obama has demanded the Pentagon conduct a radical review of US nuclear weapons doctrine to prepare the way for deep cuts in the country's arsenal, the Guardian can reveal.
Obama has rejected the Pentagon's first draft of the "nuclear posture review" as being too timid, and has called for a range of more far-reaching options consistent with his goal of eventually abolishing nuclear weapons altogether, according to European officials.
Those options include:
• Reconfiguring the US nuclear force to allow for an arsenal measured in hundreds rather than thousands of deployed strategic warheads.
• Redrafting nuclear doctrine to narrow the range of conditions under which the US would use nuclear weapons.
• Exploring ways of guaranteeing the future reliability of nuclear weapons without testing or producing a new generation of warheads.
The review is due to be completed by the end of this year, and European officials say the outcome is not yet clear. But one official said: "Obama is now driving this process. He is saying these are the president's weapons, and he wants to look again at the doctrine and their role."
It looks like Dr. Chu's project to get rid of the bureaucracy, micro-managing and risk aversion that's emanating from DOE didn't even make it out the starting gate. I'm not surprised.
Have you considered that DOE's plans for streamlining LANL center around letting NNSA and their pet LLC run all the scientists off, thereby "streamlining" "science" to the single role of producing 10 pits per year?
Have you all noticed that now that the guard shacks at "the intestine" are going to be abolished, they have put in speed breakers, and after you cross them, in big white letters, painted on the road, it says "HUMP".
Is that a command, and if so how is it commensurate with the sexual harassment training we all have to take?
I guess if we all hump, we won't need to worry about LANS safety/security (sic).
8:01 pm: "Have you all noticed that now that the guard shacks at "the intestine" are going to be abolished, they have put in speed breakers"
You are an excellent example of the clueless LANL scientist who thinks he actually knows something. Please do your homework before you commment on something you have no knowledge of.
"You are an excellent example of the clueless LANL scientist who thinks he actually knows something. Please do your homework before you commment on something you have no knowledge of.
9/21/09 11:12 PM"
What makes you think that it is a scientist? Could be a clueless guard or a clueless HR person.
I do agree with you that LANL would better without scientists. Hell the United States would be better off without scientists or the so called "A" students.
NNSA spent $24 million for an elaborate system of guard shacks that will now go mostly unused and be replaced by simple "hump" bumps.
They could have saved a bunch of money by just installing the "hump" bumps in the first place and never building that "intestine" mess at LANL's front entrance.
"I do agree with you that LANL would better without scientists." - 9:17 AM
You're going to get your wish, 9:17 am. The name LANL may soon need to be changed to remove that "national lab" bit on the end. Science is losing its welcome under LANS and NNSA.
The so called "A" students are the reason LANL and the US are in so much trouble. They think they are so smart that the rules do not apply to them. I say to hell with them, no more Ph.ds for LANL, Wall Street or the Pentagon. If you have an "A" average as a college student you should also not be considered for a job since they will think they are so great. The D students as you idiots call them will get things done and do by the rules. The rules are there are a reason people what is so hard to understand about that? If you cannot understand than maybe you are not as smart as you seem. I
"The so called "A" students are the reason LANL and the US are in so much trouble. They think they are so smart that the rules do not apply to them. I say to hell with them, no more Ph.ds for LANL, Wall Street or the Pentagon. If you have an "A" average as a college student you should also not be considered for a job since they will think they are so great. The D students as you idiots call them will get things done and do by the rules. The rules are there are a reason people what is so hard to understand about that? If you cannot understand than maybe you are not as smart as you seem."
Pete? Pete Nanos? Is that you, buddy? Hey, you *know* reading the blog is bad for your blood pressure. C'mon now, calm down.
There, better now? How are things at DTRA, BTW? Got all your CREM accounted for? Oh, and be careful using that laser pointer...
9/22/09 11:49 AM is a very telling post, it deserves its own thread. I doubt it's Nanos himself. Could be any of current low-level LANS folks, though I think it is most probably our friends from the NNSA Los Alamos Site Office. The message is precisely what has been coming out of NNSA:
We are mad as hell at those A-level scientists. They have opinions and dare to question "rules" we make for them, especially when they see contradictions or even taxpayer fraud in these rules (see below). This country doesn't need a national lab with A students, those arrogant PhD bastards dare to talk back! Obey, comply, follow the rules, not matter how absurd or damaging they are.
(Examples of institutionalized taxpayer fraud abound on this blog. Just think: LANS now buys laptops with wireless, then removes the wireless from all these laptops, at extra cost, just to re-enable it with external parts, at additional extra cost. All this is done to the laptops used on travel that cannot be introduced into any secure areas, ever. Why? So that some bureaucrat could check off the form that he "secured the LANL network". Or how about the entrance booths? They were built at the cost of tens of millions of dollars. Then they paid the guards to sit there for three years and wave all workers through for 3 years (!!!). If was clear within a week that as a security measure this was a sham. Yet, it allowed some high-level NNSA paper-pusher to write that he "mandated the security perimeter". The list of examples goes on and on. The common theme is that on paper all of them look really good, while in reality they do nothing for security and in fact defraud the taxpayer. No wonder NNSA does not want people who see this fraud every day to speak up. They want "compliance" for a reason.)
11:49 Perhaps you could explain the "reason" for the inane rules that have been adopted by LANS and foisted upon otherwise happy, productive scientists. For the life of me, I cannot understand why these so-called rules exist. Few if any of them make much sense from a safety, security, productivity, or practical point of view.
3:24 pm: "Or how about the entrance booths? They were built at the cost of tens of millions of dollars. Then they paid the guards to sit there for three years and wave all workers through for 3 years (!!!). If was clear within a week that as a security measure this was a sham. Yet, it allowed some high-level NNSA paper-pusher to write that he "mandated the security perimeter"."
You are just spouting pure bullshit. You know nothing about the reasons for the barriers, the protocols for the barrier guards, the number of vehicles stopped and searced and why, or the purpose of the recent changes. You are just really in love with your own ideas, regardless of their veracity. Did you expect your professors in school to pass you with so little effort at homework?
6:25 pm: "I cannot understand why these so-called rules exist. Few if any of them make much sense from a safety, security, productivity, or practical point of view."
And what, exactly, are your credentials for declaring this? Are you a safety or security expert, or just a scientist, and therefore an expert in everything? Maybe you "cannot understand" the rules because you haven't bothered to find out the reasons for them from those who know.
Somebody at NNSA or LANS is surely getting excited here! Someone with the knowledge of the secret "protocols for the barrier guards". This blog is really working!
Tell us please what these "secret protocols" are. Explain how is it that these poor folks who have been waving everybody through for three years without checking any cars or IDs (and utterly bored!) have been keeping the Lab safe and secure. And from what. And why this "secret protocol" is no longer needed as of this Saturday.
You've defrauded the American Taxpayer long enough, with your appearance of work, Mr. Paper-Pusher!
8:28 pm: "Tell us please what these "secret protocols" are. Explain how is it that these poor folks who have been waving everybody through for three years without checking any cars or IDs (and utterly bored!) have been keeping the Lab safe and secure."
Sorry, don't expect me to do your homework for you. If you want to know, go find out. No one used the word "secret" but you. I guess you consider anything you are too lazy to find out about to be a "secret".
And no, they don't (usually) check cars. Cars are not the threat. Nor are employees, or the public. If you care about underlying reasons, and if you have a clearance, ask your friendly security representative to explain the DOE Design Basis Threat to you. Or don't, and continue complacent in your ignorance. Whatever. I no longer work at LANL (retired), but I see that the arrogant ignorance I hated there still abounds.
I have just driven past the gate in a minivan and was waved through by the guard, as happens every day. They may have on file the most beautifully crafted "DOE Design Basis Threat" document. Yet, this piece of paper would not prevent ten minivans like mine from driving through that post at different times during the day with enough total explosive to blow up my lab building to smithereens. And if you think that looking up that piece of paper is going to make me and my colleagues here feel safer, you are delusional.
If you actually think of it, DOE is finally acknowledging it, by removing the guards.
All this ever was, was Paper-Based Security. Net cost to the tax payer of this three-year sham: tens of millions of dollars. Net security benefit: zero. Precisely the point made here, thanks for helping to illustrate it with your "DOE Design Basis Threat" argument.
9:42 Maybe you can get some fat consulting dollars working for the area office. You seem to believe you are some sort of expert on the so-called design basis threat. Please help us. We need more people like you if only for entertainment purposes. Bwwwwhhahahhhahahaaaa.
I haven't been through a LANL gate since 2002. All the guards I saw at the places that mattered looked like soldiers to me. I hope that hasn't changed.
The guards look at large vehicles' tires and suspension to see if the vehicle is overloaded, like with a fertilizer bomb. Well, they look when they're actually awake. Just a guess, they now have another means to determine vehicle weight. Is vehicle weight a sufficient indicator for every threat that might be brought in? Shit no, you're actually allowed to drive through with a gun!
The DOE is actually counting on the DHS threat level indicator to go red well before LANL gets hit. If the level goes red, then the guards will man the booths, actually look at IDs, and do real security. Good luck getting that advance warning in time. Any thinking person quickly figures out that LANL's intestine security is totally ineffective.
You are just spouting pure bullshit. You know nothing about the reasons for the barriers, the "protocols for the barrier guards, the number of vehicles stopped and searced and why, or the purpose of the recent changes. You are just really in love with your own ideas, regardless of their veracity. Did you expect your professors in school to pass you with so little effort at homework?
9/22/09 8:11 PM"
You seem to be missing the point. If what you say is true than why are they removing them? You cannot have it both ways. Think about it before you post again.
You want to know the real reason that a $24 million multi-guard post is sitting at LANL's front entrance? Here it is with no BS or amorphous fears about future threats...
It makes LASO feel good, like they finally own the place (which they do). It's a "trophy gate".
They could have put the gates close to the entrance to LANL properties but that wouldn't have bullied the town of Los Alamos in a sufficient manner. They wanted to put their stick in the ground and say "we OWN this county, you local dipshits!". That message has now been received loud and clear. Therefore, the guard posts can now be un-manned for the duration.
"IG blasts management of Energy's classified information network"
Government Executive Magazine, Sep 21 2009
"After spending nine years and at least $153 million, managers at the National Nuclear Security Administration developing a project to improve cybersecurity throughout the nuclear weapons complex failed to plan or execute the program effectively, the Energy Department's watchdog found."
"Additionally, because managers failed to develop an acquisition strategy for the project, they purchased hardware years earlier than necessary, rendering it obsolete by the time the network became operational."
``````` Oh, dear! Where did all that $153 million in NNSA money go? It must have been lost along with that LANL budget DOE is looking for.
This just in from NNSA's Twitter site...
"NNSA making INCREDIBLE PROGRESS with cyber-security initiatives!"
9/22 10:09 pm: "this piece of paper would not prevent ten minivans like mine from driving through that post at different times during the day with enough total explosive to blow up my lab building to smithereens"
9/22 11:22 pm: "you're actually allowed to drive through with a gun!"
Yeah, and 100 guys with backpacks could walk in with even more explosives. So what? Also realize that guns aren't, and never were the issue outside of security areas that contain nuclear material. You guys are showing your ignorance. You sound like seventh-graders complaining that algebra doesn't make sense, until the teacher explains that it actually does.
You exhibit quite a rare combination of total ignorance and supreme arrogance. I almost never resort to insults, but you are a true dumbshit. What do you think is going to get caught, 1) 100 men carrying 40 pound backpacks, or 2) 10 minivans carrying 400 lbs each. or, for that matter, 3) one heavy duty pickup with a beefed-up suspension carrying 2 tons of explosives. If the guards don't check IDs, like they don't at the intestine, the only one of the 3 scenarios that will surely be stopped is your lunatic scenario.
What makes you (the idiot) think that the only targets at LANL are the nuclear facilities on the Pajarito corridor (where the guards actually check IDs)?
I for once am really glad we have 12:37 PM posting here. His posts are helping us see the things that have been coming down from NNSA lately in a totally new light.
See, I had assumed that NNSA had been knowingly misleading the US congress and the taxpayer with all these sham "security measures". They must've known that putting the booths in the middle of the road and then having the guards wave everybody through provided no real security, right? After all, only an idiot wouldn't see that!
Well, what if this guy is really giving us a window into NNSA's thinking? What if they actually believe that the damn booths improved security? After all, they didn't just place the booths, they also created this "DOE Design Basis Threat" document. With that document on file, it a totally different game, the lab has been secured! What if they actually think that the laptops with the wireless cards removed and then reenabled are more secure?
What if they think that by removing all the links from the daily "links" email they've protected the LANL network?
What if there is no conspiracy to commit fraud, but they really are just a bunch of idiots, D-students that are simply unable to make a logical analysis of their own actions?
Thank you, 12:37 PM, I wouldn't not have considered this possibility without your help.
That's frightening to contemplate, but it's probably true. Either that, or he's one of the idiots who currently reside over at NNSA's LASO. The DOE spent over $24 million for what has now begun nothing but a bunch of bumps in the road. What a waste!
God, I long for the day when the lab will finally be handed over to the DoD and we'll be rid of these people in NNSA and LANS who are strangling the lab with their crazy WFSZ polices. However, it's beginning to look like that day will never arrive.
2:47 pm: "If the guards don't check IDs, like they don't at the intestine..."
Geez, don't you realize that the LANL portals provide access to the Jemez and points north like Cuba and Farmington, as well as for hunters, hikers, campers, loggers, etc., i.e., for the general public? What "ID's" will be checked?? And who will verify these "ID's" Only in a true emergency can these portals be restricted, except for the target vehicles, which are routinely stopped and checked. Please get a clue before you post nonsense.
BYW, 7:11 pm - the DOE DBT has nothing to do with cyber security. Cool your paranoia. Those rules are conjured by a completely different set of assholes in NNSA.
The bypass road was supposed to be constructed so the public could still access the ski area and LANL could still maintain security. We were way better off with the old security gates that limited access to badge holders than the new intestine with no bypass because now badge checks cannot be done and the public is allowed unfettered access to all of LANL except the Pajarito corridor. What we have now is a giant waste of money and no real security - security designed by D students, just like our new cyber security program. The sad thing is that any Congressional delegation can uncover this lunacy in a 10 minute visit.
The bypass road was supposed to be constructed so the public could still access the ski area and LANL could still maintain security.
If you had visited Los Alamos lately you would know that there is an "attempt" for a bypass road - down the Los Alamos Canyon, past the ice rink and up again. But usually driving through the security gates, especially in Winter is much faster. And the expression on the faces of the guards when driving through with skis and snowboard on a sunny deep powder day - priceless.
I suggest NNSA advertise on their new speed bumps at the lab's front entrance by putting a price tag on them in big, bold letters... "$24 MILLION". Let the taxpayers know the cost of this monstrosity which had a short life time of only 2 years.
##### Brazil VP says country should build nuclear arms
September 25, 2009
BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) - Brazil's vice president says his country should develop nuclear weapons.
Jose Alencar says "a nuclear weapon has great importance" to prevent attacks on Brazil because of its extensive borders and maritime holdings. Alencar tells Brazilian newspapers that Brazil doesn't have a program to develop nuclear weapons, but should. #####
Will they be needing any weapons designers? More important, will they be locating their design facility near those fabulous Rio beaches?
If the long, winding road at LANL's front entrance is the "intestine", then the guard shacks (soon to be empty) would be the "poop shoot". How appropriate!
The large mounds of rotting manure which the County dumps near the front entrance and which reek on hot summer days only serves to strengthen this analogy, n'est-ce pas? Somebody pass me the Pepto Bismol, mega-size. I think I'm getting the "runs".
1:29 pm: "The large mounds of rotting manure which the County dumps near the front entrance and which reek on hot summer days..."
Hey, it's the smell of the refuse from YOUR HOUSE, asshole. Where else do you think stinky Los Alamos garbage comes from? Do you even bother to understand what your county government does with all the shit you throw away? Wake up. You generate shit, and the county has to find a way to deal with it. God forbid you should ever have to smell it again.
"The smell comes from the pile of horse manure brought over from the Los Alamos stables."
You would think the County would move this stuff further away from the lab's front entrance. As it is, the stench upon entering the front gates reeks on hot days. I guess it makes a fitting analogy for the state of the lab.
Looks like Dr. Chu is doing a pretty good job shoveling huge bundles of stimulus cash to his friends over in Berkeley...
~~~~~~~~~ Texas got less stimulus money per resident than almost every other state
(Dallas Morning News, September 28th)
...So far, California universities have landed about $453 million in stimulus grants and contracts for special projects, compared with $161 million for New York schools, $110 million in Pennsylvania, and $91 million in Texas, according to a News analysis of NIH data.
The University of California at Berkeley, the flagship school of the California system, has been awarded more than $204 million in stimulus grants and contracts, much of it from the Energy Department.
The University of Texas at Austin has won grants and contracts worth $22 million. Four years ago, UT lost a bid to host the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Los Alamos has been awarded $132 million in Energy Department stimulus funds.
"That disparity is pretty dramatic," said state Rep. Dan Branch, R-Dallas, chairman of the Texas House's Higher Education Committee. "We have to do a better job of getting our percentage of these billions of dollars of grants."
The guards have finally been removed from NNSA's $24 million dollar "intestine" front gate. I'll miss their bored, sleepy faces as they lazily waved car after car through the front gate.
10:48 am: "The guards have finally been removed from NNSA's $24 million dollar "intestine" front gate."
Well, obviously NNSA has approved this at least at the current SECON level. I'm assuming this means that the NNSA idiots who mandated it in the first place have 1) moved on, 2) been overruled, or 3) been presented with an alternative they can live with. In any case, you can bet the structure won't be going away, since it will be back in full swing (or worse) the minute NNSA raises the SECON level.
Word coming out of LLNL is that TCP1 at their lab is about to be changed. In the future, LLNS will be changing the pension so that it will be based on the 3 last years of salary and not the 3 highest years of salary. This means that if you get demoted or change positions and your salary goes down, you'll probably want to bail out quickly.
I wonder if LANS is planning to follow this same path? Anyone in HR heard about this idea? It seems this idea would violate the NNSA "substantially equivalent" promise, as UCRP doesn't work this way.
Once again the scaremongers are posting some pure unadulterated crap. I am unaware of any movement to amend the LLNS pension plan in regard to HAPC, only some discussion around shift differential. The HAPC is still the highest 36 month average pay, not the last 36 months. I know for sure that there is no such consideration going on at LANS.
The level of distrust of lab employees for both LANS and LLNS is very high. Can you blame them? They've watch their upper management betray them at almost every turn over the last three years.
Are not the six members of the executive committees of the LANS and LLNS Boards of Directors the exact same individuals? And the same for the finance subcommittee that calls the shots on TCP1 and TCP2?
So if it happens for LLNS its going to happen for LANS.
Careless of DOE to have lost their own copy of the budget. Glad they were able to recover a backup copy.
ReplyDeleteSo, those D students at the DOE lost their copy of the LANL budget. I am NOT surprised.
ReplyDeleteBUT, isn't this a reportable security incident?
Shouldn't they have a six-month stand-down where nobody does anything?
OOPS, wait a minute, they don't do anything now.
Anyone at DOE/NNSA who has any cognizance over these issues doesn't need to use google to find the answers. Low-level DOE flunkies with way too much time on their hands and an internet connection at work (of course none of their access is blocked).
ReplyDeleteI see you enjoy stating the obvious, 3:55. Your sense of humor also seems to be somewhat lacking.
ReplyDelete= NNSA Launches Blog to Highlight Administrator's Work At IAEA Conference =
ReplyDeleteNuclear Power Industry News, Sep 16, 2009
By Stephen Heiser
The National Nuclear Security Administration has launched a travel blog for online visitors to follow Administrator Thomas D’Agostino and receive updates from his work at the 2009 International Atomic Energy Agency’s 53rd General Conference in Vienna, Austria.
D’Agostino is accompanying Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, who delivered the plenary address to all General Conference attendees. D’Agostino said of the travel blog, “As we continue expanding our use of technology to spread our nuclear security message, I wanted to give folks back home a chance to see the work we’re doing in Vienna to promote President Obama’s historic nuclear security goals.”
In his Prague speech earlier this year, President Obama outlined an agenda that seeks to secure vulnerable nuclear materials worldwide and to reduce the threat of nuclear terrorism. Visitors to the Administrator’s travel blog, located at http://nnsa.energy.gov/news/iaea2009.htm, will find photos and video from the events, as well as links to NNSA’s Facebook and Twitter accounts, where updates will be posted throughout the day.
------------------------
Lots of pictures of D'Ag at this special NNSA blog site doing his thing at the IAEA along with Dr. Chu. However, don't stare at Tom's shiny bald head too closely or you're liable to go blind. It's pretty obvious that Chu really likes this guy.
Eureka! The recent political storm over ACORN has given me a brilliant idea. I think I finally know how to get rid of LANS.
ReplyDeleteJust tape some video of Mikey talking to staff members informing them how they can bring in outside scientific 'whores' to perform research on just about any subject they please to gain a federal buck. Get him to agree to use under-age Post Docs from India to do this seamy research. Send the video off to Fox News and then sit back and watch as Congress ignites with indignation and demands, "Investigate and then throw those Bechtel bums out!".
I hope DOE finds LANL's budget, and when they do, perhaps they could dole some out to me! :-)
ReplyDeleteThis just in from NNSA's Twitter site...
ReplyDelete..."Tom D'Agostino doing an INCREDIBLE JOB at the IAEA conference!"
Hecker has won the Fermi award.
ReplyDeletehttp://cisac.stanford.edu/news/cisacs_siegfried_hecker_receives_2009_enrico_fermi_award_20090917/
Anastasio has won the "Wear shoes that GRIP!" award.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations, Sig!
ReplyDelete--Doug
Too bad there will be no real raise this year at LANL for most employees. Looks like people living in Los Alamos may soon need them...
ReplyDelete-
"Council adopts 36 percent property tax hike" (LA Monitor)
County councilors expressed surprise and dismay when realization hit that they must approve a 36 percent property tax increase that will affect residents beginning in November.
This just in from NNSA's Twitter site...
ReplyDelete..."Tom D'Agostino congratulates Hecker and says Fermi Award demonstrates NNSA has been doing a TERRIFIC JOB overseeing research labs!"
Yes they were surprised they had to approve it, most thought it would be a stealth increase with no action required on their part..oops
ReplyDelete9:33 pm: "Council adopts 36 percent property tax hike" (LA Monitor)"
ReplyDeleteIt is time for Los Alamos to realize what a ridiculously low property tax rate they enjoy. Maybe not for NM, but as compared to the rest of the country, property taxes here are a joke. If the town had to support it's own fire department, we'd have a two-truck / one ambulance volunteer company composed mostly of out-of-shape retirees, just like the rest of the country's towns of this size. No retail tax base means LA will sooner or later have to learn to pay its own way as the Lab shrivels and dies.
"No retail tax base means LA will sooner or later have to learn to pay its own way as the Lab shrivels and dies."
ReplyDelete9/17/09 10:12 PM
The County did a bait-and-switch with the bond offering for the Boyer retail development. Instead of a nice retail complex, the County is now building luxury palaces for themselves! On top of this, the County Council just appointed a crook, Tony Mortillaro, as our new county administrator.
At LANS, the employees only have the option of showing their disgust through the use of the Engagement Survey. However, with the Council, they have the option to vote them out.
You people are just a bunch of losers and whiners. It's time to refresh the lab with a new group of employees who are thankful just to have a job, never complain and continually compliment me on my brilliance. Greater attrition is good for LANL (and for ME!!!).
ReplyDelete- TERRY
P.S: Mikey feels the same way about this as me.
Terry is correct.
ReplyDeleteWe don't need you ungrateful, disgruntled PhD scientists. We have plenty of BS-level C students at Bechtel who will be pleased to replaced you.
MIKEY!
You know, the anonymous posters who sign themselves as "TERRY" or "MIKEY!" are really getting old. The cleverness has evaporated, and the annoyance factor has grown. Please give it a rest, or try to think of another schtick. Really, you have become boring and stupid.
ReplyDelete"I happen to know as a verifiable fact that a lot of support people are not "happy" right now. I'm one of them. Again, I'm not afraid to say it." (Greg Close)
ReplyDelete"Please do not categorize any engineers as being "very happy". As an engineer I am miserable for a number of reasons." (6:53 am)
Sounds like the results of this LANS survey may turn out to be very interesting. Has LANS said yet whether they will share all of the results with the employees?
"You know, the anonymous posters who sign themselves as "TERRY" or "MIKEY!" are really getting old. The cleverness has evaporated....Really, you have become boring and stupid." - 10:12 PM
ReplyDeleteHey, Mikey, could you please stop with the "Wear shoes that GRIP!" and "LOOK after each other!" shtick that's pasted all over LANL. It's getting a little tiring and old. Really, it has become boring and stupid.
11:39 am: "Has LANS said yet whether they will share all of the results with the employees?"
ReplyDeleteMike Anastasio has developed a standard answer to this question on lab morale: "Morale at LANL is good!" That's all you need to know.
Hey, 1:57:
ReplyDeleteFormer Director Sig Hecker won this year's Fermi Award.
Current Director Anastasio wears shoes that GRIP and LOOKs out for his bonus. Now *that* is boring, stupid, and tiresome. It is also the reality of today's LANL. We used to do science. Now we do compliance. In fact, that should be our now lab motto:
We used to do science.
Now we do compliance.
Compliance serving society.
ReplyDeletePS I like MIKEY and TERRY. I just cannot stand their humourless alter egos Mike Anastasio or Terry Wallace.
Actually, killing the environment to serve society is better. All the paperwork and training (yes, online, but hardcopy proof is ALWAYS required) is generated useless paper for nothing but CYA. Oh yeah, don't get me started on the sexual harassment training. Due before October 1. Hmm. MIKEY/TERRY you bonuses at risk you little f-ers?
ReplyDeleteLANL and fire chief confident despite report
ReplyDelete- Los Alamos Monitor, Sep 20, 2009
Inspector General Gregory Friedman states in a memorandum to Energy Secretary Steven Chu that fire protection at Los Alamos National Laboratory is perennially inadequate.
...DOE officials have testified that it was safety issues that kept LANL shut down for months beginning in July 2004. Also, past objective reviews of LANL’s operations typically concluded that it did not take its safety functions at its nuclear facilities seriously enough.
Now that LANL is the nation's undisputed home of plutonium research and manufacturing, the situation had to improve.
www.lcni5.com/cgi-bin/c2.cgi?
075+article+News+20090915132542075075003
~~~~~~~~
Bullshit!!! It was Pete Nanos who engineered a shut-down over false pretenses that caused the 2004 fiasco. Dr. Chu, you are turning out to be a huge disappointment for most of the scientists still left at the NNSA labs. DOE -- same as it ever was... fatally f*cked-up to the core.
At least DOE got one thing right. LANL is quickly becoming the nation's "Pit Factory" under NNSA and Bechtel/BWXT.
Actually, Anonymous at 9/20/09 4:42 PM is correct about the 2004 stand-down not being a safety issue.
ReplyDeleteBUT, Admiral Butthead did not do it on his own. It was DOE management that told him to either have a stand-down or the DOE would make it happen.
What really went wrong with the stand-down is that they put people in charge of it who were totally clueless as well as unaccountable for the short-term and long-term costs. The stand-down should not have lasted longer than a week.
But, all of a sudden we had these D students making the decisions and they drug out the stand-down as long as they could.
We lost a lot of WFE sponsors due to the stand-down. Some pulled their funding immediately as they did not want to pay us for sitting in the offices doing nothing. It would have been proper to have charged the stand-down to overhead.
5:27 pm: "What really went wrong with the stand-down is that they put people in charge of it who were totally clueless as well as unaccountable for the short-term and long-term costs. The stand-down should not have lasted longer than a week. But, all of a sudden we had these D students making the decisions and they drug out the stand-down as long as they could."
ReplyDeleteNot quite. Some of the people investigating the "incident" (your "D students") knew the truth within a week or so. It was Nanos who wouldn't accept the truth and kept the standdown going, because he did not want DOE to know how badly he had overreacted in the beginning. Plus, there were a lot of folks (the training and compliance people) who saw a very sweet opportunity to become indispensible and convinced most (not all) of upper management that what DOE wanted was much more paper-based accountability. They still rule LANL.
Here's the deal. If you are a decision-maker, and you totally lack any innate sense of right or wrong, you need to surround yourself with professional ass-coverers, such as lawyers and training specialists. Welcome to the new LANL, which is no longer recognizable to the generations of dedicated scientists, engineers, and respected support folks who made it great. How sad.
the Nanos stand-down was a political move, based on idiotic "evidence" of a security breach, evidence we knew within days was baloney. Yet the stand-down dragged on for months. Nanos never got punished so I assume this came down from DOE/NNSA.
ReplyDeleteThe DOE/NNSA was also responsible for the moronic mangling of the intersection at Otowi bridge and the installation of worthless guard shacks, now unmanned, and rubber speed bumps. $25M and more for this in wasted money.
9/20/09 8:24 PM wrote: "Not quite. Some of the people investigating the "incident" (your "D students") knew the truth within a week or so. It was Nanos who wouldn't accept the truth and kept the standdown going, because he did not want DOE to know how badly he had overreacted in the beginning."
ReplyDeleteAnd when the never-ending "Self-Assessment" period actually concluded with reports and recommendations to improve areas like safety or security, many of the reports were shit-canned within moments, the recommendations were rejected outright and en masse, regardless of the logic, transparency and the understanding within the organizations that they were laying bare every fault or vulnerability in order to actually arrive at real remedies to avoid future problems. It would come as no surprise that folks who had diligently followed every newly-developed rule and process to arrive at the mandatory response (Self-assessment reports & recommendation packages) were sent t hinterland-types of assignments with the implied (or stated?) mandate to hush up. A great 'thanks' for the work they had done, no?
"If you are a decision-maker, and you totally lack any innate sense of right or wrong, you need to surround yourself with professional ass-coverers, such as lawyers and training specialists."
Truer words have never been spoken!
9/21/09 4:49 AM
ReplyDeleteThe DOE/NNSA was also responsible for the moronic mangling of the intersection at Otowi bridge..."
Correction for clarity sake, not as a criticism:
"The DOE/NNSA was also responsible for the moronic mangling of the intersection at Los Alamos Canyon bridge..."
Cut backs in the US nuclear arsenal may go much, much deeper than most people are currently expecting. It will be interesting to see how this effects the NNSA labs...
ReplyDelete##########
Barack Obama ready to slash US nuclear arsenal (UK Guardian, Sep 21 '09)
Pentagon told to map out radical cuts as president prepares to chair UN talks
-
Barack Obama has demanded the Pentagon conduct a radical review of US nuclear weapons doctrine to prepare the way for deep cuts in the country's arsenal, the Guardian can reveal.
Obama has rejected the Pentagon's first draft of the "nuclear posture review" as being too timid, and has called for a range of more far-reaching options consistent with his goal of eventually abolishing nuclear weapons altogether, according to European officials.
Those options include:
• Reconfiguring the US nuclear force to allow for an arsenal measured in hundreds rather than thousands of deployed strategic warheads.
• Redrafting nuclear doctrine to narrow the range of conditions under which the US would use nuclear weapons.
• Exploring ways of guaranteeing the future reliability of nuclear weapons without testing or producing a new generation of warheads.
The review is due to be completed by the end of this year, and European officials say the outcome is not yet clear. But one official said: "Obama is now driving this process. He is saying these are the president's weapons, and he wants to look again at the doctrine and their role."
##########
www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/20/
barack-obama-us-nuclear-weapons
It looks like Dr. Chu's project to get rid of the bureaucracy, micro-managing and risk aversion that's emanating from DOE didn't even make it out the starting gate. I'm not surprised.
ReplyDelete10:34,
ReplyDeleteHave you considered that DOE's plans for streamlining LANL center around letting NNSA and their pet LLC run all the scientists off, thereby "streamlining" "science" to the single role of producing 10 pits per year?
Sounds pretty streamlined to me.
Nope, 12:08, Chu is just a spineless whimp, managing upward. Why else would the Nobel Prize winner keep D'Ag?
ReplyDeleteHave you all noticed that now that the guard shacks at "the intestine" are going to be abolished, they have put in speed breakers, and after you cross them, in big white letters, painted on the road, it says "HUMP".
ReplyDeleteIs that a command, and if so how is it commensurate with the sexual harassment training we all have to take?
I guess if we all hump, we won't need to worry about LANS safety/security (sic).
8:01 pm: "Have you all noticed that now that the guard shacks at "the intestine" are going to be abolished, they have put in speed breakers"
ReplyDeleteYou are an excellent example of the clueless LANL scientist who thinks he actually knows something. Please do your homework before you commment on something you have no knowledge of.
LOL, 8:01 PM.
ReplyDeleteMake love, not pits!
"You are an excellent example of the clueless LANL scientist who thinks he actually knows something. Please do your homework before you commment on something you have no knowledge of.
ReplyDelete9/21/09 11:12 PM"
What makes you think that it is
a scientist? Could be a clueless guard or a clueless HR person.
I do agree with you that LANL would better without scientists. Hell the United States would be better off without scientists or the so called "A" students.
NNSA spent $24 million for an elaborate system of guard shacks that will now go mostly unused and be replaced by simple "hump" bumps.
ReplyDeleteThey could have saved a bunch of money by just installing the "hump" bumps in the first place and never building that "intestine" mess at LANL's front entrance.
"I do agree with you that LANL would better without scientists." - 9:17 AM
ReplyDeleteYou're going to get your wish, 9:17 am. The name LANL may soon need to be changed to remove that "national lab" bit on the end. Science is losing its welcome under LANS and NNSA.
10:39 am: You have no clue what you're talking about. If you work at LANL, please go see your friendly security representative and get educated.
ReplyDelete9/22/09 10:42 AM
ReplyDeleteThe so called "A" students are the reason LANL and the US are in so much trouble. They think they are so smart that the rules do not apply to them. I say to hell with them, no more Ph.ds for LANL, Wall Street or the Pentagon. If you have an "A" average as a college student you should also not be considered for a job since they will think they are so great. The D students as you idiots call them will get things done and do by the rules. The rules are there are a reason people what is so hard to understand about that? If you cannot understand than maybe you are not as smart as you seem. I
"The so called "A" students are the reason LANL and the US are in so much trouble. They think they are so smart that the rules do not apply to them. I say to hell with them, no more Ph.ds for LANL, Wall Street or the Pentagon. If you have an "A" average as a college student you should also not be considered for a job since they will think they are so great. The D students as you idiots call them will get things done and do by the rules. The rules are there are a reason people what is so hard to understand about that? If you cannot understand than maybe you are not as smart as you seem."
ReplyDeletePete? Pete Nanos? Is that you, buddy? Hey, you *know* reading the blog is bad for your blood pressure. C'mon now, calm down.
There, better now? How are things at DTRA, BTW? Got all your CREM accounted for? Oh, and be careful using that laser pointer...
9/22/09 11:49 AM is a very telling post, it deserves its own thread. I doubt it's Nanos himself. Could be any of current low-level LANS folks, though I think it is most probably our friends from the NNSA Los Alamos Site Office. The message is precisely what has been coming out of NNSA:
ReplyDeleteWe are mad as hell at those A-level scientists. They have opinions and dare to question "rules" we make for them, especially when they see contradictions or even taxpayer fraud in these rules (see below). This country doesn't need a national lab with A students, those arrogant PhD bastards dare to talk back! Obey, comply, follow the rules, not matter how absurd or damaging they are.
(Examples of institutionalized taxpayer fraud abound on this blog. Just think: LANS now buys laptops with wireless, then removes the wireless from all these laptops, at extra cost, just to re-enable it with external parts, at additional extra cost. All this is done to the laptops used on travel that cannot be introduced into any secure areas, ever. Why? So that some bureaucrat could check off the form that he "secured the LANL network". Or how about the entrance booths? They were built at the cost of tens of millions of dollars. Then they paid the guards to sit there for three years and wave all workers through for 3 years (!!!). If was clear within a week that as a security measure this was a sham. Yet, it allowed some high-level NNSA paper-pusher to write that he "mandated the security perimeter". The list of examples goes on and on. The common theme is that on paper all of them look really good, while in reality they do nothing for security and in fact defraud the taxpayer. No wonder NNSA does not want people who see this fraud every day to speak up. They want "compliance" for a reason.)
11:49 Perhaps you could explain the "reason" for the inane rules that have been adopted by LANS and foisted upon otherwise happy, productive scientists. For the life of me, I cannot understand why these so-called rules exist. Few if any of them make much sense from a safety, security, productivity, or practical point of view.
ReplyDelete3:24 pm: "Or how about the entrance booths? They were built at the cost of tens of millions of dollars. Then they paid the guards to sit there for three years and wave all workers through for 3 years (!!!). If was clear within a week that as a security measure this was a sham. Yet, it allowed some high-level NNSA paper-pusher to write that he "mandated the security perimeter"."
ReplyDeleteYou are just spouting pure bullshit. You know nothing about the reasons for the barriers, the protocols for the barrier guards, the number of vehicles stopped and searced and why, or the purpose of the recent changes. You are just really in love with your own ideas, regardless of their veracity. Did you expect your professors in school to pass you with so little effort at homework?
6:25 pm: "I cannot understand why these so-called rules exist. Few if any of them make much sense from a safety, security, productivity, or practical point of view."
ReplyDeleteAnd what, exactly, are your credentials for declaring this? Are you a safety or security expert, or just a scientist, and therefore an expert in everything? Maybe you "cannot understand" the rules because you haven't bothered to find out the reasons for them from those who know.
Somebody at NNSA or LANS is surely getting excited here! Someone with the knowledge of the secret "protocols for the barrier guards". This blog is really working!
ReplyDeleteTell us please what these "secret protocols" are. Explain how is it that these poor folks who have been waving everybody through for three years without checking any cars or IDs (and utterly bored!) have been keeping the Lab safe and secure. And from what. And why this "secret protocol" is no longer needed as of this Saturday.
You've defrauded the American Taxpayer long enough, with your appearance of work, Mr. Paper-Pusher!
8:28 pm: "Tell us please what these "secret protocols" are. Explain how is it that these poor folks who have been waving everybody through for three years without checking any cars or IDs (and utterly bored!) have been keeping the Lab safe and secure."
ReplyDeleteSorry, don't expect me to do your homework for you. If you want to know, go find out. No one used the word "secret" but you. I guess you consider anything you are too lazy to find out about to be a "secret".
And no, they don't (usually) check cars. Cars are not the threat. Nor are employees, or the public. If you care about underlying reasons, and if you have a clearance, ask your friendly security representative to explain the DOE Design Basis Threat to you. Or don't, and continue complacent in your ignorance. Whatever. I no longer work at LANL (retired), but I see that the arrogant ignorance I hated there still abounds.
I have just driven past the gate in a minivan and was waved through by the guard, as happens every day. They may have on file the most beautifully crafted "DOE Design Basis Threat" document. Yet, this piece of paper would not prevent ten minivans like mine from driving through that post at different times during the day with enough total explosive to blow up my lab building to smithereens. And if you think that looking up that piece of paper is going to make me and my colleagues here feel safer, you are delusional.
ReplyDeleteIf you actually think of it, DOE is finally acknowledging it, by removing the guards.
All this ever was, was Paper-Based Security. Net cost to the tax payer of this three-year sham: tens of millions of dollars. Net security benefit: zero. Precisely the point made here, thanks for helping to illustrate it with your "DOE Design Basis Threat" argument.
9:42 Maybe you can get some fat consulting dollars working for the area office. You seem to believe you are some sort of expert on the so-called design basis threat. Please help us. We need more people like you if only for entertainment purposes. Bwwwwhhahahhhahahaaaa.
ReplyDeleteI haven't been through a LANL gate since 2002. All the guards I saw at the places that mattered looked like soldiers to me. I hope that hasn't changed.
ReplyDeleteThe guards look at large vehicles' tires and suspension to see if the vehicle is overloaded, like with a fertilizer bomb. Well, they look when they're actually awake. Just a guess, they now have another means to determine vehicle weight. Is vehicle weight a sufficient indicator for every threat that might be brought in? Shit no, you're actually allowed to drive through with a gun!
ReplyDeleteThe DOE is actually counting on the DHS threat level indicator to go red well before LANL gets hit. If the level goes red, then the guards will man the booths, actually look at IDs, and do real security. Good luck getting that advance warning in time. Any thinking person quickly figures out that LANL's intestine security is totally ineffective.
You are just spouting pure bullshit. You know nothing about the reasons for the barriers, the "protocols for the barrier guards, the number of vehicles stopped and searced and why, or the purpose of the recent changes. You are just really in love with your own ideas, regardless of their veracity. Did you expect your professors in school to pass you with so little effort at homework?
ReplyDelete9/22/09 8:11 PM"
You seem to be missing the point. If what you say is true than why are they removing them? You cannot have it both ways. Think about it before you post again.
You want to know the real reason that a $24 million multi-guard post is sitting at LANL's front entrance? Here it is with no BS or amorphous fears about future threats...
ReplyDeleteIt makes LASO feel good, like they finally own the place (which they do). It's a "trophy gate".
They could have put the gates close to the entrance to LANL properties but that wouldn't have bullied the town of Los Alamos in a sufficient manner. They wanted to put their stick in the ground and say "we OWN this county, you local dipshits!". That message has now been received loud and clear. Therefore, the guard posts can now be un-manned for the duration.
"IG blasts management of Energy's classified information network"
ReplyDeleteGovernment Executive Magazine, Sep 21 2009
"After spending nine years and at least $153 million, managers at the National Nuclear Security Administration developing a project to improve cybersecurity throughout the nuclear weapons complex failed to plan or execute the program effectively, the Energy Department's watchdog found."
"Additionally, because managers failed to develop an acquisition strategy for the project, they purchased hardware years earlier than necessary, rendering it obsolete by the time the network became operational."
```````
Oh, dear! Where did all that $153 million in NNSA money go? It must have been lost along with that LANL budget DOE is looking for.
This just in from NNSA's Twitter site...
"NNSA making INCREDIBLE PROGRESS with cyber-security initiatives!"
9/22 10:09 pm: "this piece of paper would not prevent ten minivans like mine from driving through that post at different times during the day with enough total explosive to blow up my lab building to smithereens"
ReplyDelete9/22 11:22 pm: "you're actually allowed to drive through with a gun!"
Yeah, and 100 guys with backpacks could walk in with even more explosives. So what? Also realize that guns aren't, and never were the issue outside of security areas that contain nuclear material. You guys are showing your ignorance. You sound like seventh-graders complaining that algebra doesn't make sense, until the teacher explains that it actually does.
12:37
ReplyDeleteYou exhibit quite a rare combination of total ignorance and supreme arrogance. I almost never resort to insults, but you are a true dumbshit. What do you think is going to get caught, 1) 100 men carrying 40 pound backpacks, or 2) 10 minivans carrying 400 lbs each. or, for that matter, 3) one heavy duty pickup with a beefed-up suspension carrying 2 tons of explosives. If the guards don't check IDs, like they don't at the intestine, the only one of the 3 scenarios that will surely be stopped is your lunatic scenario.
What makes you (the idiot) think that the only targets at LANL are the nuclear facilities on the Pajarito corridor (where the guards actually check IDs)?
Jesus, I hope you aren't a LANS manager.
I for once am really glad we have 12:37 PM posting here. His posts are helping us see the things that have been coming down from NNSA lately in a totally new light.
ReplyDeleteSee, I had assumed that NNSA had been knowingly misleading the US congress and the taxpayer with all these sham "security measures". They must've known that putting the booths in the middle of the road and then having the guards wave everybody through provided no real security, right? After all, only an idiot wouldn't see that!
Well, what if this guy is really giving us a window into NNSA's thinking? What if they actually believe that the damn booths improved security? After all, they didn't just place the booths, they also created this "DOE Design Basis Threat" document. With that document on file, it a totally different game, the lab has been secured! What if they actually think that the laptops with the wireless cards removed and then reenabled are more secure?
What if they think that by removing all the links from the daily "links" email they've protected the LANL network?
What if there is no conspiracy to commit fraud, but they really are just a bunch of idiots, D-students that are simply unable to make a logical analysis of their own actions?
Thank you, 12:37 PM, I wouldn't not have considered this possibility without your help.
Jesus, I hope you (12:37) aren't a LANS manager.
ReplyDelete9/23/09 2:47 PM
That's frightening to contemplate, but it's probably true. Either that, or he's one of the idiots who currently reside over at NNSA's LASO. The DOE spent over $24 million for what has now begun nothing but a bunch of bumps in the road. What a waste!
God, I long for the day when the lab will finally be handed over to the DoD and we'll be rid of these people in NNSA and LANS who are strangling the lab with their crazy WFSZ polices. However, it's beginning to look like that day will never arrive.
2:47 pm: "If the guards don't check IDs, like they don't at the intestine..."
ReplyDeleteGeez, don't you realize that the LANL portals provide access to the Jemez and points north like Cuba and Farmington, as well as for hunters, hikers, campers, loggers, etc., i.e., for the general public? What "ID's" will be checked?? And who will verify these "ID's" Only in a true emergency can these portals be restricted, except for the target vehicles, which are routinely stopped and checked. Please get a clue before you post nonsense.
BYW, 7:11 pm - the DOE DBT has nothing to do with cyber security. Cool your paranoia. Those rules are conjured by a completely different set of assholes in NNSA.
The bypass road was supposed to be constructed so the public could still access the ski area and LANL could still maintain security. We were way better off with the old security gates that limited access to badge holders than the new intestine with no bypass because now badge checks cannot be done and the public is allowed unfettered access to all of LANL except the Pajarito corridor. What we have now is a giant waste of money and no real security - security designed by D students, just like our new cyber security program. The sad thing is that any Congressional delegation can uncover this lunacy in a 10 minute visit.
ReplyDeleteThe bypass road was supposed to be constructed so the public could still access the ski area and LANL could still maintain security.
ReplyDeleteIf you had visited Los Alamos lately you would know that there is an "attempt" for a bypass road - down the Los Alamos Canyon, past the ice rink and up again. But usually driving through the security gates, especially in Winter is much faster. And the expression on the faces of the guards when driving through with skis and snowboard on a sunny deep powder day - priceless.
I suggest NNSA advertise on their new speed bumps at the lab's front entrance by putting a price tag on them in big, bold letters... "$24 MILLION". Let the taxpayers know the cost of this monstrosity which had a short life time of only 2 years.
ReplyDelete#####
ReplyDeleteBrazil VP says country should build nuclear arms
September 25, 2009
BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) - Brazil's vice president says his country should develop nuclear weapons.
Jose Alencar says "a nuclear weapon has great importance" to prevent attacks on Brazil because of its extensive borders and maritime holdings. Alencar tells Brazilian newspapers that Brazil doesn't have a program to develop nuclear weapons, but should.
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Will they be needing any weapons designers? More important, will they be locating their design facility near those fabulous Rio beaches?
If the long, winding road at LANL's front entrance is the "intestine", then the guard shacks (soon to be empty) would be the "poop shoot". How appropriate!
ReplyDeleteThe large mounds of rotting manure which the County dumps near the front entrance and which reek on hot summer days only serves to strengthen this analogy, n'est-ce pas? Somebody pass me the Pepto Bismol, mega-size. I think I'm getting the "runs".
1:29 pm: "The large mounds of rotting manure which the County dumps near the front entrance and which reek on hot summer days..."
ReplyDeleteHey, it's the smell of the refuse from YOUR HOUSE, asshole. Where else do you think stinky Los Alamos garbage comes from? Do you even bother to understand what your county government does with all the shit you throw away? Wake up. You generate shit, and the county has to find a way to deal with it. God forbid you should ever have to smell it again.
9/25/09 9:48 PM,
ReplyDeleteUh, no, it's not landfill stench. It's cow dung. Open your eyes, pal.
9:48 sounds like he must work with the County's refuse department. Touchy fellow, huh?
ReplyDelete"9:48 sounds like he must work with the County's refuse department. Touchy fellow, huh?
ReplyDelete9/26/09 9:10 PM
What an arrogant respose. You need to review your attitude and treatment of people who you consider "inferior" to you.
I don't consider anyone inferior to myself, 9:48/11:01. The 9:10 post simply makes a logical observation. You need to go look in the mirror.
ReplyDelete9:48
ReplyDeleteYou have a rare combination of total ignorance and supreme arrogance.
The smell comes from the pile of horse manure brought over from the Los Alamos stables. The dump gives it away as mulch/fertilizer.
"The smell comes from the pile of horse manure brought over from the Los Alamos stables."
ReplyDeleteYou would think the County would move this stuff further away from the lab's front entrance. As it is, the stench upon entering the front gates reeks on hot days. I guess it makes a fitting analogy for the state of the lab.
Looks like Dr. Chu is doing a pretty good job shoveling huge bundles of stimulus cash to his friends over in Berkeley...
ReplyDelete~~~~~~~~~
Texas got less stimulus money per resident than almost every other state
(Dallas Morning News, September 28th)
...So far, California universities have landed about $453 million in stimulus grants and contracts for special projects, compared with $161 million for New York schools, $110 million in Pennsylvania, and $91 million in Texas, according to a News analysis of NIH data.
The University of California at Berkeley, the flagship school of the California system, has been awarded more than $204 million in stimulus grants and contracts, much of it from the Energy Department.
The University of Texas at Austin has won grants and contracts worth $22 million. Four years ago, UT lost a bid to host the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Los Alamos has been awarded $132 million in Energy Department stimulus funds.
"That disparity is pretty dramatic," said state Rep. Dan Branch, R-Dallas, chairman of the Texas House's Higher Education Committee. "We have to do a better job of getting our percentage of these billions of dollars of grants."
9/28/09 9:22 PM, maybe they knew exactly what they were doing.
ReplyDeleteThe guards have finally been removed from NNSA's $24 million dollar "intestine" front gate. I'll miss their bored, sleepy faces as they lazily waved car after car through the front gate.
ReplyDelete10:48 am: "The guards have finally been removed from NNSA's $24 million dollar "intestine" front gate."
ReplyDeleteWell, obviously NNSA has approved this at least at the current SECON level. I'm assuming this means that the NNSA idiots who mandated it in the first place have 1) moved on, 2) been overruled, or 3) been presented with an alternative they can live with. In any case, you can bet the structure won't be going away, since it will be back in full swing (or worse) the minute NNSA raises the SECON level.
Word coming out of LLNL is that TCP1 at their lab is about to be changed. In the future, LLNS will be changing the pension so that it will be based on the 3 last years of salary and not the 3 highest years of salary. This means that if you get demoted or change positions and your salary goes down, you'll probably want to bail out quickly.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if LANS is planning to follow this same path? Anyone in HR heard about this idea? It seems this idea would violate the NNSA "substantially equivalent" promise, as UCRP doesn't work this way.
Once again the scaremongers are posting some pure unadulterated crap. I am unaware of any movement to amend the LLNS pension plan in regard to HAPC, only some discussion around shift differential. The HAPC is still the highest 36 month average pay, not the last 36 months. I know for sure that there is no such consideration going on at LANS.
ReplyDeleteThe level of distrust of lab employees for both LANS and LLNS is very high. Can you blame them? They've watch their upper management betray them at almost every turn over the last three years.
ReplyDeleteAre not the six members of the executive committees of the LANS and LLNS Boards of Directors the exact same individuals? And the same for the finance subcommittee that calls the shots on TCP1 and TCP2?
ReplyDeleteSo if it happens for LLNS its going to happen for LANS.