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Lab director presents 'State of the Lab' talk
The Laboratory had many positive accomplishments in the last year that bode well for the future, Lab Director John Browne said Wednesday.
However, in his "State of the Lab" address in the Administration Building Auditorium, Browne said "It was not an easy time," referring to some of the less pleasant events, such as allegations of espionage, security concerns, a moratorium on foreign visits and assignments and numerous congressional hearings and reports. "I think this has been one of the most difficult years in our history," said Browne.
Browne touched on a wide variety of issues ranging from scientific achievements such as the Dual Axis Radiographic Hydrodynamic Test facilities' successful first shot, to proton radiography at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center. He also highlighted and to workforce diversity, collective bargaining and the budget picture.
Browne thanked Lab employees for helping the Lab meet performance objectives while also continuing to conduct world class science. "I think we can demonstrate that we can perform well under adverse conditions," he said.
But Browne also cautioned that cybersecurity and other challenges face Los Alamos in the coming years.
Browne used overhead viewgraphs to discuss the Lab's current budget and workforce levels. He noted that the fiscal year 2001 budget is projected to increase slightly, about 5 percent, from this year's roughly $1.3 billion budget. The projection however, could change because the overall budget changes daily depending on how dollars flow in and out of the Lab.
Browne also said the moratorium on hiring -- save for postdoctoral candidates and strategic hires -- will continue in place through the end of the fiscal year Sept. 30.
The director noted that the Lab was able to meet the Department of Energy's special provisions dealing with safety, environmental restoration, waste management and community outreach, and also improved to satisfactory - the highest possible score - its rating for safeguards and security from the Department of Energy.
Browne noted that cybersecurity remains a pressing issue. "I think we see cybersecurity as a major challenge in the coming decades," he said. "I think we're going to have work very hard at this."
Regarding polygraph testing, Browne said between 100 and 200 Lab employees may be subject to testing, down tremendously from early estimates of thousands. He also reiterated that polygraph tests shouldn't be a condition of employment. The DOE, he said, is still developing final rules on who will be subject to such tests.
Browne also noted that members of his senior executive team will be the first to be polygraphed, and added that Energy Secretary Bill Richardson has indicated that he plans to ask the National Academy of Sciences to examine the scientific validity of polygraph tests.
"We're going to try and minimize the negative impacts," said Browne.
Browne also said all Lab employees should help recruit foreign scientists by promoting Los Alamos as an institution committed to great science. He said some believe that Los Alamos isn't a preferred place to work, especially for Asian American students and scientists.
All people should be welcome at Los Alamos, said Browne. "I think this was how the United States was created. Science has always been an international field ... if we don't figure out a way to do this, it is going to hurt the longterm health of the Lab," he said.
Browne also spoke about efforts to restore Laboratory Directed Research and Development funding, noting that President Clinton's fiscal year 2001 budget request returns LDRD funding to 6 percent. "Congress' perception of [LDRD] is it's money I have in my pocket that I just hand out to people," said Browne. "Those who have applied for LDRD funds know how rigorously proposals are evaluated.
"I think this is a crucial issue for the institution that we're going to have to fight very, very hard for," said Browne.
Regarding workforce issues, Browne said the Lab will continue to evaluate the recently enacted 9/80 workforce schedule. He also reminded employees about the Lab's new grievance policy, but said progress in addressing childcare issues "is moving slower than I would have wanted it to."
Browne also said he supports the extension of collective bargaining rights to Lab employees as part of the recent California legislation mandating Lab compliance with the Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act, or HEERA.
Browne used one viewgraph to identify some of the recent appointments to top management positions, and noted that minorities and women at the Lab now make up 50.2 percent of the Lab workforce. "The workforce of the future is changing dramatically," he noted.
Browne also called DARHT the "workhorse of the Lab in the next decade," and also said the new Strategic Computing Complex under construction will increase the Lab's modeling and simulation capabilities.
Browne also mentioned the success of the Accelerator Production of Tritium project at LANSCE and the opening of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in southeastern New Mexico as successes. "A lot of people never thought it would open," he said of WIPP.
In closing Browne said the Lab has outstanding people with numerous strengths and capabilities that can be brought to bear on civilian research and development and "other national problems."
And he finished his prepared remarks lightheartedly, saying that one of the four main criteria employees rate the Lab director on is the opening of Pajarito Ski Area. He noted that it always snowed when former Director Sig Hecker gave a colloquium. "So I asked Sig to come today," Browne laughed. "Maybe it will snow and some [good luck] will rub off and my evaluation will go up."
Browne's talk will be rebroadcast on LABNET. His viewgraphs also will be posted on the Director's Web page.
--Steve Sandoval
Editor's note: The following is an open letter from University of California President Richard C. Atkinson to Los Alamos, Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley and Lawrence Livermore national laboratories.
Open letter to Los Alamos, Berkeley and Lawrence Livermore national laboratories
February 22, 2000
Dear Colleagues:
The past year has brought extraordinary change, challenge and uncertainty to the national laboratories. It has been a difficult time for all -- Los Alamos, Livermore, Berkeley, the Department of Energy and the University of California.
What is most important now is to pull together, to continue to resolve any problems, and to do this in a way that furthers the laboratories' missions and upholds their value as national assets. This was the thrust of Secretary Richardson's message in visits to Los Alamos and Livermore last December. I agree and I know we will be successful.
In recent months, we have taken important steps to meet challenges in security and project management. Secretary Richardson has acknowledged this progress. Also being addressed are concerns related to racial profiling. Unfair employment practices and discrimination of any kind are not tolerated at the laboratories or anywhere else at UC; we must be clear about that and firm in our resolve to seek and value laboratory employees of all backgrounds.
The laboratories' ability to attract and retain the best, most innovative minds is the single most important advantage UC brings to its management of these facilities. Without this, the laboratories would not be institutions of world-class caliber. It is vital that new talent be cultivated and trained to carry on the laboratories' national security mission. Fostering the appropriate environment for this to occur is a responsibility shared by the DOE, UC, the laboratories, and the nation as a whole. Compliance with laboratory security requirements is an essential element of this environment, of course, but this need not be a constraint on creative work if security is properly managed and appropriately balanced with scientific exchange.
It is remarkable that despite the difficulties of the past year, the laboratories' superb scientific and technical work has continued. Added to this is the continuing success of the laboratories' performance-based management system pioneered by the DOE and UC in 1992. And the laboratories continue their outstanding performance in academic collaborations and educational outreach, their many community service activities, and their significant economic contributions to their regions, the states of California and New Mexico, and the nation.
The credit for all this belongs to you -- the men and women who work at every level at the laboratories. You consistently conduct yourselves with dedication, loyalty and professionalism for the good of the nation. Thank you for all you do, and I am pleased to take this opportunity to extend to you the appreciation and support of the UC community
The Berkeley, Livermore and Los Alamos laboratories represent an unparalleled resource in maintaining the United States' scientific, technological, and economic leadership. As we enter a new century of discovery and public service, I want you to know that UC is proud of its association with the national laboratories, and we are especially proud of the people whose service makes those laboratories national treasures. We look forward to continuing this partnership well into the future.
Sincerely,
Richard C. Atkinson
President
Healthcare Advisory Committee plans a series of brown bags
If you have had problems with the health-care referral process or just want to learn more about it, the Lab's Healthcare Advisory Committee's brown bag on referrals could be the place to get answers and information. This second in an ongoing series of brown bags will be held from 1 to 2:30 p.m. Tuesday at the TA-66 conference room, located off Pajarito Road at the Center for International Security Affairs.
Designed to help employees better understand their BlueCross BlueShield of New Mexico health-care coverage, the brown bags provide a forum for plan participants to ask questions directly to BCBSNM representatives. Slated to attend this session from BCBSNM are Gene Kersh, manager, Los Alamos Service Unit; Stephanie Thompson, registered nurse, manager, Health Services; and Joyce Kievett, assistant supervisor, Health Services.
If you are not able to attend this brown-bag session but have questions about the referral process, contact Marja Springer, HAC chairwoman, at 5-7112 or marja@lanl.gov. Marja Springer will then ask your questions at the session or submit them to the BCBSNM representatives for response.
Suggestions for future topics are always welcome. Please send them to hac@lanl.gov. This e-mail venue also serves employees who have questions about health care. HAC will direct the questions to the most appropriate source for response, if members of the committee do not have an answer.
Employee participation in the brown bags will determine whether they are continued. Possible topics for future brown bags are out-of-area coverage and student coverage.
For more information on HAC, employees are encouraged to visit the HAC Web site at http://www.hr.lanl.gov/Hac/Index.stm.
--J.C. Goldie
Era of the green standard badge comes to an end Friday
Effective at the close of business Friday, the green Laboratory-issued Department of Energy standard badges no longer will be valid on Laboratory property. On that date, Protection Technology Los Alamos personnel no longer will accept the old style DOE Standard badge for access to security areas, nor will the badge be considered valid anywhere on Laboratory property, including rental buildings. Also, sometime during the weekend, these badges will be inactivated so they will not work in the Laboratory's badge readers. This applies to badges with serial numbers beginning with either CN or CO.
The Badge Office is open today from 7:15 to 4:30 p.m. and will extend its hours this Friday to 7:15 a.m. to 1 p.m.
For more information, see an all-employee memorandum. Or go to the Badge Office Web page at http://badge.lanl.gov, call the office at 7-6901 or send e-mail to badge@lanl.gov
Robotics focus of 'Science for the 21st Century'
New ways to exploit the capabilities of robots is the focus of this week's issue of "Science for the 21st Century," a communication project launched by the Lab's Public Affairs Office.
The project involves a series of one-page papers describing Laboratory technologies and research that have an impact on science today and in the future. The papers cover diverse topics and highlight many areas of Laboratory research, including those efforts that involve numerous groups, divisions and directorates.
A "Science for the 21st Century" article will be distributed each week during the next year to science editors at national, regional and local publications. The articles also will be available to employees on the Web at http://www.lanl.gov./orgs/pa/science21 as they are released (see the Jan. 12 Newsbulletin).
Students participate in exchange project
PHOTO: Garry Franklin, left, of the Bradbury Science Museum (CRO-2), explains to several local and Russian students some of the scientific research taking place at Los Alamos, during a recent tour of the downtown museum. The tour was arranged by the Laboratory's Environmental Restoration Project Office (E-ER) for the Russia/New Mexico Secondary Schools Exchange Project. In photo from right to left are Maria Toropova, Nick Iline, Olga Kondzich (back to camera) and Eugene Klimkin, all Russian students. Also pictured are Heather Hull and Kathleen Munroe, both Los Alamos High School juniors. Six schools from Russia and primarily Northern New Mexico are participating in this year's program; this year's theme is environmental resource management. More information on the Russia/New Mexico Secondary Schools Exchange Project can be found at http://www.lams.losalamos.k12.nm.us/RussiaNM/nmrussiahome.htm online. Photo by LeRoy N. Sanchez
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