A comment from the previous post:DOE Gives Nuclear Labs One Heck of a Long Winter Vacation
Enjoy your vaction.
No oversight required: friends cover for friends. Monkey no see, monkey no [yada yada] ...
--Doug
--Doug
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I am all for oversight but POGO looks really bad saying LANL blew up a building. Sorry not gonna fly. Maybe Chu is doing something.
By the way who has oversight over POGO? Why should we trust them? I admit there is no reason to trust DOE but again why should we trust POGO?
You know, Doug: once you point out the obvious, it really is pretty obvious that the NNSA is protecting their LANL and LLNL M&O contractors. In an ideal world it would only be a matter of time before Congress would jump in with both feet and kick some ass, while grabbing a few self-serving sound bites in the process.
Unfortunately, this is not an ideal world, and Congress is a as big a piece of the picture puzzle as the other players.
Bottom line: expect the status quo to be vigorously maintained. There's serious money involved.
I wonder how much NNSA is getting in payoffs from their LANL and LLNL M&O contractors... How much is Chu getting? Obama?
Let's see... not only does NNSA not tell anyone how they came up with their 90% performance score, but now they want to let LANS decide how to rate themselves? Excellent! I can already taste my big, fat 20% bonus for the next 5 years!
- MIKEY
Doug, it's pretty obvious from your picture posts exactly what part of the female anatomy entices you the most, you nasty boy! ;-)
Doug, does everything you post have to be accompanied with a picture of a tshirt and tits? What's the deal? Have you become a pervert in your old age?
Admittedly, the NNSA corruption has been spelled out pretty clearly:
* One person inside NNSA picked the LLC which included the incumbent , UC as the winner of the LANL contract.
* Fuckup after fuckup continue to ensue.
* NNSA declares success!
* NNSA declares No more oversight is required! Everything is under control!
* Nobody in Washington seems to give a shit.
Business as usual.
9:31.
Yes. Further, I suspect I was also one in my young age.
I've got $20 riding on D'Agostino leaving NNSA and parachuting into a Bechtel Vice Presidency position within the next 6 months.
POGO is full of shit on this one. The lab has been suffering from too much, not too little, compliance-driven, mindnumbing oversight from NNSA. This oversight has been killing the work environment, without improving security, safety, or business practices. Security, safety, and business practices can be improved only by workers who are motivated and dedicated to the success of the organization, not a bunch of abused zombies.
We've been talking about the motivations of different people here. Yes, Anastasio just wants a bigger bonus, and D'Agostino probably has a nice job at Bechtel lined up. But look at POGO's motivations.
POGO exists for the sole purpose of making LANL look bad. They do not have any constructive vision for LANL. If there are no serious safety incidents, they will make some up. If there are no security incidents, they will make some up. Whatever it takes to keep the flow of crap going. It's their raison d'etre.
It is high time LANL and NNSA stopped trying to placate them. It can't be done.
It no wonder NNSA is so screwed up. The entire NNSA letter is written by a bunch of D- student lawyers. What struck me was to see that the Chairman of the National Security Enterprise Committee is our own boy, Charlie "I'm from Livermore" McMillian. So for all the NNSA leadership D'Ago is sending a real message here. He has absolutely NO confidence in the administration he is "leading". To me this is an absolute conflict of interest and furthermore D'Ago knows where the money is landing. He's putting silk sheets on the bed where he will be "sleeping" soon, right next to or under Mikey and Fat Pants. To use words from the movie: Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, "Those aren't pillows!"
Yes, we do need some oversight of POGO!
NNSA declares No more oversight is required! Everything is under control!>
Do I understand correctly – you want more DOE/NNSA Oversight – not less? You can’t possibly want more burdensome regulations & more meaningless training. What about all the posts on this blog complaining about the silly rules, procedures, training, etc. that LANL is subjected to?
In POGO’s follow-on comments to their “Vacation” article, they make the following comment:
While we believe there are many employees at NNSA who take seriously their job to fix the problems, at the same time, it is clear to many that a part of the root cause is that the DOE/NNSA have not been doing their oversight jobs well. This may stem from the fact that DOE/NNSA are sometimes confused because the Federal and Contractor Program Offices, which control all of the money, are also interested in little more than production. We understand that Program Offices view safety as an impediment which slows down widget production because of the fussy safety guys.
POGO is claiming that NNSA is pushing production at the expense of safety which is exactly opposite of what has/is happening in the NWC. I can’t speak for the science that is conducted at LANL & the other National Labs, but within the NWC where production is performed, the labor content of our completed product has more than double in the past 10 years as a result of excessive regulation, oversight, including the DNFSB’s oppressive influence. If anyone's really pushing production at the expense of more regulation & oversight I think they could make a damn good case to do so.
According POGO’s article, “POGO would instead like to see NNSA make a New Year’s resolution to conduct smarter, more rigorous oversight of its labs.”
I’m all for holding NNSA & the contractor accountable for safety as well for their personal performance reviews but, imposing more regulations & oversight can only continue to make our products more & more expensive. The NNSA & its contractors don’t care what the product cost – they only wish to comply with all the rules & regulations whether they make sense or not because compliance means Congress is happy, NNSA is happy & the Contractor gets more $$$. The only way to lose $$$ is to not comply.
A good case can be make that POGO’s real agenda is the same as the anti-nuke people – to shut down the NWC & eliminate all nuclear weapons work.
Rumor has it that after D' Ag bails out Tim Geithner will take his place....I understand that he makes sure his patrons always get what they are due.
Snotty comment now concluded.
Does anyone still want to take the position that constant audits benefit anyone...except the auditors. My organization.....err... soon to be former organization (LLNL) has been in what seems to be a perpetual state of audit for about the last 3 1/2 years and all its done is slow work to a crawl. There are no improvements (that I see anyway) and people are now worse at their jobs because they haven't done them as regularly as they have in the past.
Note to audit lovers: next time you choose a surgeon make sure that you find one who hasn't performed surgery in the last 18 months because he has been busy answering ridiculous questions posed by a gaggle of fresh out of college liberal arts majors who are highly disturbed that he forgot to check a box on page 14 of his procedure or work permit.
The only audits I care about anymore deal with why DOE/NNSA is permitted to waste such ungodly sums of money with so little to show for it.
So I take it the DNFSB on-site representative is lying about this explanation too? Did I hear "catastrophic". Is that you Bret K. calling POGO and the DNFSB a bunch of liars?
"Falsehood is easy, truth so difficult" George Eliot
DEFENSE NUCLEAR FACILITIES SAFETY BOARD
December 18, 2009
MEMORANDUM FOR: T. J. Dwyer, Technical Director
FROM: B. P. Broderick and R.T. Davis
SUBJECT: Los Alamos Report for Week Ending December 18, 2009
Technical Area (TA)-15: On Wednesday, a containment assembly catastrophically failed during an indoor propellant-driven experiment at TA-15 involving a large bore powder gun. No radioactive
material was present in this experiment and no personnel were injured, however, the failure did cause significant structural damage to the building housing the powder gun. The cause of the failure is not yet well understood and LANL is planning an investigation. This is at least the second containment failure of this powder gun, which is ultimately intended to be fielded underground at the Nevada Test Site to perform dynamic experiments involving plutonium
What's wrong with t-shirted tits? If it weren't for those kinda pictures here, I probably wouldn't even read this blog at all....
Let's see... not only does NNSA not tell anyone how they came up with their 90% performance score, but now they want to let LANS decide how to rate themselves? Excellent! I can already taste my big, fat 20% bonus for the next 5 years!
- MIKEY
1/8/10 9:28 PM
The upcoming merit increases for employees are effective on January 11th. Employees can be told what their increase and performance score is. But not their merit bin or total contribution score? Why?
So you see, the pattern is the same. NNSA doesn't tell anyone HOW the score was derived. And LANL managers don't tell their employees HOW their scores were derived.
And each PAD could determine their own methods. One PAD had a mandate that NO ONE could be above a 3 for total contribution.
All employees should be asking the question to their managers exactly what their total contribution score is, how their total contribution score was determined, and by whom. I think it will prove interesting.
A good case can be make that POGO’s real agenda is the same as the anti-nuke people – to shut down the NWC & eliminate all nuclear weapons work.
1/9/10 7:53 AM
"A good case"??? Get a clue. POGO IS the anti-nuke people!
"The upcoming merit increases for employees are effective on January 11th. Employees can be told what their increase and performance score is. But not their merit bin or total contribution score? Why?"
Doesn't this sound a lot like the "DOUBLE SECRET PROBATION" thing from Animal House?
POGO is not the lab's friend. But, then, neither are Congress, LANS or the NNSA these days.
LANL has no friends left, period.
LANL has no friends? Wait a minute... we do have St. Pete's replacement, Sen. Bryon Dorgan! Dang, but he's leaving the Senate.
"There are no improvements (that I see anyway) and people are now worse at their jobs because they haven't done them as regularly as they have in the past."
Bingo! This is exactly the theme I am seeing on the internal LANL Performance Blog in response to Sue Seestrom's question about why injury rates are going up again.
And very sorry to hear things have come to this at LLNL too...
TO ALL EMPLOYEES:
Your TOTAL CONTRIBUTION is the sum of your job content score and your performance score. There is no need for you to know your job content score as all of you except for me and some close friends, are worthless shits doing meaningless work.
In fact, if a lot of you leave, that would help fulfill an important PBI and with the consequence that my bonus will be increased.
MIKEY!
"A good case"??? Get a clue. POGO IS the anti-nuke people!
Definition: Same
Being the very one; identical
Conforming in every detail.
Being the one previously mentioned or indicated; aforesaid.
It's not QM pal...I said "same" got it?
"What an Outrage"
(AARP Bulletin - January 2010)
Bosses' Bonuses Trump Worker's Pensions
While many companies are cutting back as the recession makes a dent in profits, it appears some corporate executives won't be sharing the pain with lover-level colleagues come retirement time. That's because their companies continue to funnel big money into executive stock options even as they reduce contributions to employee pension plans, according to a report published by Analyst's Accounting Observer and summarized by the Council of Institutional Investors. In 2008, S&P 500 companies with pension plans provided their top execs $44.5 billion in stock grants and options. Meanwhile, they contributed just $39.5 billion to the pension funds for the rest of their employees... "It's mind-boggling", say Nancy Hwa at the Pension Rights Center in Washington.
---
So, how about it Mikey? Why *CAN'T* part of the almost $80 million in annual "profit fee" that LANS makes each year be allocated to help beef up the $76 million in shortfalls in the employee pension at LANL? Didn't employee do the most toward earning this PBI-based profit fee? Don't we, the employees of the lab, work directly for LANS? Aren't we all in this together? Or... then, again, maybe, not.
The top 1% of LANS upper management continue to pig-out at the expense of the rest of the employees. The way that LANS tightly holds on to their "profit fees" tells you all you need to know.
We are not all in this together. Some animals are more equal than others at LANS, that being the pigs at the top. Yeah, Mikey, that includes you... the porkiest pig of all!
Bingo! This is exactly the theme I am seeing on the internal LANL Performance Blog in response to Sue Seestrom's question about why injury rates are going up again.
And very sorry to hear things have come to this at LLNL too...
Perhaps if accident rates are going up at LANL it implies that something approximating "work" has started again. Enjoy it while it lasts! If as you say, a few injuries have occurred I'm sure plans are being discussed about stopping or standing down again.
I have thought for a long time that this was the plan all along next to no real deliverables but bonus/performance money for lowering the accident rates. Slow the work to a crawl and rates fall naturally. Voila PEP satisfied!
In the calendar, and/or threats towards the US nukes:
1. "Northrop Analysts: United States Heading Toward ´De Facto Dyad,´" in Inside Missile Defense, December 16, 2009 - Vol.15, No.25, at http://www.defensenewsstand.com/cs_newsletters.asp?NLN=MISSILE&ACTION=RECENT
1.1 I strongly oppose this naive and dangerous idea, by the Obama administration to phase out nukes, and destroying the classic nuclear triad. Starting with our strategic bombers, and then ICBMs, and finally SLBMs, as well as, starting the "no-first use" US nuke policy.
2. The forthcoming NPR in March 2010, and its DoD Force Structure Plan for US nukes, that is at least one month late, due to conflicting ideas between the White House, and DoD, i.e. idealism/realism, and could be further delayed, as well as, a weak US nuke plan.
3. "UN chief pledges to build on UN summit chaired by Obama to work for a nuclear-free world," by Edith M. Lederer, January 8, 2010, at http://www.latimes.com/ (My remark: Not a route for US to embark.)
4. 2/24/10-2/26/10: AUSA´s ILW Winter Symposium & Exposition, Greater Fort Lauderdale/Broward County Convention Center, Fort Lauderdale, FL.
5. 1/7/10-1/10/10: International CES, Las Vegas, NV.
6. 1/7/10-1/10/10: AEE 2010, Las Vegas, NV.
7. 1/9/10: 2010 AVN Awards Show, Las Vegas, NV.
8. Is Frank Young dead?
It's not QM pal...I said "same" got it?
1/9/10 4:35 PM
Your understatement of "a good case" was the laughable part.
5. 1/7/10-1/10/10: International CES, Las Vegas, NV.
6. 1/7/10-1/10/10: AEE 2010, Las Vegas, NV.
7. 1/9/10: 2010 AVN Awards Show, Las Vegas, NV.
8. Is Frank Young dead?
---
Oh, for the love of God, Frank & Doug, why do you let this mentally unstable blogger keep posting his nonsense on this blog?
CES? (Consumer Electronics Show)
AEE? (Adult Entertainment Expo)
AVN? (Adult Video "Porno" awards)
This guy is a complete fruit cake! It's not even funny.
Also, LANL is no longer "playing with nuclear bombs." That work was stopped in 1992. Test moratorium. Remember?
12:48 "MIKEY" - there is no such thing as a Job Content score this year. Get with the program. Your managers (with additional tweaking repeatedly all the way up to AD level) can give you any damn score they want and no justification is required. Boilerplate justifications are being generated after the fact. Don't expect more than "Employee contributed at the level expected for his job classification."
1/9/10 9:18 PM: this message is very telling; it really shows who we are dealing with.
Let's see:
1. This person does not work at the lab and has no technical expertise. Otherwise, he'd know that the people involved in that incident do not "play with nuclear bombs".
2. Even though he doesn't have a clue, he proceeds to spread around rumors and gross, deliberate distortions, using highly inflammatory rhetoric. No, the lab did not "blow up a building with a canon".
3. He's full of hatred and has a foul mouth. To him, we are "bozos", "morons", "idiots", "real jerks".
4. Last but not least, he offers no constructive vision for LANL and begins with a premise that "POGO is right (as usual)". In other words, all the usual signs the post is coming from POGO.
Now, this is who we are dealing with. Does anyone still think these people can be placated/mollified? No chance! Whether you are a LANL worker, a LANS manager, or a DOE/NNSA person charged with overseeing LANL, POGO is not your friend.
10:24,
We get lots of comments from mentally unstable bloggers. Occasionally I let one slide through, just to share the wealth.
I once believed that the enemy of my enemy was my friend...then I discovered POGO. POGO is not good for anyone but POGO.
FWIW, I believe that anonymous bloggers who are as full of shit as 6:44pm are not good for anyone.
But that's just my opinion.
According to Knapp's secretary, he got ~$80K bonus for DARHT's first dual axis shot...
Any Comments
Sorry, Doug. 6:44 pm is exactly right about POGO. They have no "friends" they just have causes. And in this case, the cause is to shut the nuclear weapon complex down. They can and will attempt that result by blasting anyone and everyone involved given the chance; feds, contractors, employees, it doesn't matter to them if it furthers their cause. Facts and integrity are not relevant.
I have to repeat an earlier question that was not answered: Is Frank Young dead?
Pogo's only goal is to continue to attract funding for itself, under the guise of "protecting the taxpayer"... Any real or imaginary issue that they can use to get their name in front of the press will suffice.
8:44,
You just described LANS.
You must be terribly confused.
7:16 Knapp truly deserves it. When he came aboard DARHT shots were being fired at a rate of once per month. Now they are fired at a rate of once per year. That is the LANS way! See! They fixed it! Gooooo LANS! Without the marvelous engineering improvements implemented by Knapp the shots were once built correctly. Now, well, the results speak for themselves, don't they? See! They fixed it! That is the LANS way! Gooooo LANS! Next year I hope he gets a $100k bonus. He is just that good. LANS is just that good. They have really turned the weapons program around. America thanks you, Brett.
7:16 Knapp truly deserves it. When he came aboard DARHT shots were being fired at a rate of once per month. Now they are fired at a rate of once per year.
Sounds like he is taking a page from the LLNL/LLNS playbook!
Nothing happens........nothing can go wrong!
LANS is the shut down crew. Their job is to continue slowing down any real, productive work at LANL until a great day of celebration arrives when it is suddenly announced that LANL will become 'Rocky Flats II'. What's left of LANL and LLNL weapons design work will be condensed out at NTS along with the accelerated construction of 'DARHT II'.
Just think of all the money Bechtel and BWXT will make with the D&D and cleanup work!
Doug, I wonder why you say 1/10/10 6:44 PM is full of shit. I mean, sometimes I agree with POGO, as when they pointed out the exorbitant compensations of the new for-profit managers. The salary of our director is obscene, it can only be characterized as looting the taxpayers' funds. But at other times, POGO's medicine is really worse than the disease. More oversight by NNSA? Even more micromanagement?
And, above all, I haven't heard them lay out any constructive vision for LANL. It seems POGO just wants LANL to die, period. That's when they lose any credibility with me.
Have we reached the end of the life of this post, too? I can hardly wait. Victory is sweet!
- MIKEY
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