Thursday, January 11, 2007

 

This Just In

Woof!

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: MATT LETOURNEAU
JANUARY 11, 2007
(202) 224-7098

DOMENICI STATEMENT ON REASSIGNMENT OF
LASO MANAGER ED WILMOT

WASHINGTON ? U.S. Senator Pete Domenici today issued the
following statement regarding news that the Ed Wilmot, Manager of the Los
Alamos Site Office (LASO), will be reassigned to a new position within the
Site Office.

"I'd like to thank Ed Wilmot for his service as the Manager of
the Los Alamos Site Office and wish him luck as he takes on the task of
implementing Complex 2030.

"For some time, I have been dissatisfied with NNSA. My
dissatisfaction has included the lack of progress on security management at
Los Alamos National Laboratory. Therefore, I welcome a new appointment to
manage LASO. Along with a new NNSA director, I hope we can turn the corner
and make real progress on making our national labs, including Los Alamos,
the safest and most productive installations in the country.

"I would like to invite the new appointees to my office to discuss LANL
operations, oversight, community relations and the need to make LASO
cleanup a higher priority. Rather than fighting over highway bypasses, I
would encourage them to work with the community to release excess property
and facilitate economic growth. I would also be interested to know their
thoughts on how they expect to change the status quo and support the LANL
mission, while providing proper oversight."

EOM

Comments:
Just in case you haven't been keeping score: This blog passed on high-quality rumors about the imminent demise of LASO's Wilmot. We'll keep you informed ...
 
St. Pete used to frequently say he was dissatisfied with DOE. Now he says he's dissatisfied with NNSA. So what. It doesn't change a thing. LANL just continues to slowly sink into the abyss. Now, if we were suddenly turned into a federalized lab work force and put under DOD's wing, that might change a few things. However, that will never happen. It would take us out from under both Domenici's and Bingamin's domain in Congress. They would rather keep us smothered under the stagnating "Energy" heading even if it results in the eventual destruction of this once great laboratory.
 
What really bugs me are all the rude drivers passing me on the road, and the ice of course. Why aren't there separate roller-skating paths for those of us who want to roller-skate to work? Oops sorry...I forgot this isn't in the Lab's Readers Forum.
 
Some demise, Pat. You're a bit premature in your assessment.

Ed Wilmot has been "promoted" to the NNSA's Complex 2030 transition team. Dan Glenn from the NNSA Pantex office will replace him at LASO. Since LANL appears destined to become Rocky Flats II, it's probably a wise choice on NNSA's part.


http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/news/state/16439945.htm

Los Alamos Site Office Manager Reassigned
Associated Press - Jan 11, 2007

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. - As the National Nuclear Security Administration starts working on the future of the country's nuclear weapons complex, officials on Thursday announced the manager of the agency's Los Alamos Site Office will play a role.

Ed Wilmot has been reassigned to work with a transition team as the NNSA implements its Complex 2030 plan, which aims to establish a smaller, more efficient nuclear weapons complex over the next 20 years that will be able to respond to changing national and global security challenges.

"He is one of our senior managers with a good bit of program and project management experience," NNSA spokeswoman Julie Anne Smith said of Wilmot. "As we gear up to implement Complex 2030, they wanted someone with experience."

Wilmot has served as manager of the Los Alamos Site Office since April 2004. LASO is responsible for administering the Los Alamos National Laboratories contract and managing federal activities at the northern New Mexico lab.

Dan Glenn, manager of the NNSA's Pantex Site Office near Amarillo, Texas, will serve as acting manager of the Los Alamos office until a permanent replacement is named, Smith said.
 
Bwahh, ha, ha, ha, haaaa! Wilmot is being promoted. What a hoot!
 
What bullshit we are fed!!
Pete says:
" Domenici reassigns head of Los Alamos agency - Andy Lenderman | The New Mexican January 12, 2007

U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici to Ed Wilmot: You're gone.

Domenici, R-N.M., announced Thursday that Wilmot, the head of the National Nuclear Security Administration in Los Alamos, was reassigned to another job. It was the latest in a series of moves to change direction at the embattled agency.

"For some time, I have been dissatisfied with NNSA," Domenici said in a news release. "My dissatisfaction has included the lack of progress on security management at Los Alamos National Laboratory."

Dan Glenn of the agency's Pantex Plant, near Amarillo, Texas, will take over in an acting capacity on Feb. 5, federal officials said.

Wilmot's boss got the ax last week. Agency administrator Linton Brooks resigned, and security problems at Los Alamos were listed as reasons by Brooks and his boss, Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman. Police found classified information at the home of a former lab archivist during an October police call. No charges have been filed in connection with the case. But the story made national headlines, and the U.S. House of Representatives might hold hearings into security problems at the lab.

New Mexican Virtual Tours
Now Glenn and Tom D'Agostino, who took over the NNSA, have some homework to do. It starts in Domenici's office.

"I would like to invite the new appointees to my office to discuss LANL operations, oversight, community relations and the need to make (Los Alamos Site Office) cleanup a higher priority," Domenici said. "Rather than fighting over highway bypasses, I would encourage them to work with the community to release excess property and facilitate economic growth."

Last year, the Los Alamos County Council sued Wilmot and his agency over a $24 million road security project, arguing the government did a bad job of considering the impact of the project on local issues like tourism, economic development and emergency evacuations.

Domenici and others in New Mexico's delegation were drawn into the fight, which was eventually settled.

Meanwhile, a new private company is working to take over direct management of the lab and deal with an estimated $175 million budget shortfall. And the state of New Mexico continues to pressure the lab to deal with hazardous waste leftover from the Cold War. Wilmot essentially oversaw these and other issues for the federal government.

Wilmot has been assigned to the NNSA's Albuquerque office, where he'll work on Complex 2030, which is the agency's plan to modernize the nuclear weapons complex, a spokesman said.

Wilmot was reportedly in Washington, D.C., on Thursday and could not immediately be reached for comment.

One longtime Los Alamos observer said Wilmot's firing won't do anything to change the lab. Greg Mello of the Los Alamos Study Group said federal managers are outnumbered by the private contractors that operate much of the nuclear weapons complex.

"There's too much privatization," Mello said.
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Tom says:
"D’Agostino adds another member to Complex 2030 team - Jan. 12, 2007

Effective Feb. 5, Ed Wilmot, currently the manager of NNSA’s Los Alamos Site Office (LASO), will be detailed to a new position. Tom D’Agostino, acting under secretary for Nuclear Security of the National Nuclear Security Administration, plans to establish a position to oversee the implementation of Complex 2030.

“I want an experienced senior manager in the field to help drive Complex 2030’s successful implementation,” D’Agostino said. “It is critical that we are successful in transforming and modernizing the nuclear weapons complex into one that is responsive to both today's and tomorrow’s national security needs. Ed is a manager with an extensive background in program and project management."

Wilmot will work directly with George Allen, director of NNSA’s Office of Transformation. He will coordinate activities ssociated with developing a responsive infrastructure for facilities, and lead transformation activities that involve more than one site to ensure that consistent business practices are implemented. Wilmot also will lead NNSA-wide efforts to improve project and program management and he will assume responsibility for guiding the Systems Integration Technical Support Team chartered at Sandia National Laboratories.

Since April 2004, Wilmot has managed LASO, which has direct federal oversight of the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. He was previously the site office manager at NNSA’s Savannah River Site Office and worked at DOE headquarters as a deputy in the Office of the Assistant Deputy Administrator for Military Application and Stockpile Operations.

To fill the vacancy created by Wilmot’s departure, D’Agostino plans to advertise the LASO manager position in order to promptly find a permanent manager. In the interim, Dan Glenn, the current Pantex Site office manager, will serve as the acting LASO manager until a permanent replacement is found.
 
Just how gullible does St. Pete think we really are? The words out of Pete's office in no way match the reality on the ground. Wilmot is being promoted to a position that oversees much of the Complex 2030 effort. Amazing! I think St. Pete must be getting a bit senile these days.
 
Anonymous has sent me the following clip from a news item:

At yesterday's news conference, Senator "Pit" Dementia (R-NM) trembled and drooled when asked by a reporter if science was dead at LANL. A spokesman quickly grabbed the microphone from the seemingly dazed Senator and burbled, "Money is still flowing in to Los Alamos. Thank you for your questions. Good afternoon."

In other news, the newly installed toll booths at the Los Alamos Laboratory suffered a serious security breach when several carloads of bearded and turbaned men managed to drive all the way to the front of the new Ad Building. Witnesses heard them asking for information about the "source of all information, the Lab Newsbulletin." They were driven away under a barrage of merciless laughter and taunts from bystanders.
 
A true story about Ed Wilmot.

Ed evidently did not like to use email or fax. Only paper was good enough.

So, all communications to NNSA HQ from LASO were via US mail, which meant that all communications had nice long delays built in. NNSA HQ people used to complain to LANL people about Ed -- the employee that NNSA selected. Weird.

The funny part is that the guy who is on the 'complex 2030' committee seems to be stuck in 1930.

And this is the best that NNSA can do? No wonder we're in so much trouble.
 
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