[iwar] [fc:New.Agency.Won't.Absorb.Livermore.Lab,.U.S..Says]

From: Fred Cohen (fc@all.net)
Date: 2002-06-13 05:26:55
Next message: Fred Cohen: "[iwar] [fc:UK.anti-terrorist.officials.alarmed.at.US.tactics]"
Previous message: Fred Cohen: "[iwar] [fc:Now.showing.on.satellite.TV:.secret.American.spy.photos]"
Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ] [ attachment ]
Message-Id: <200206131226.g5DCQt702737@red.all.net>
To: iwar@onelist.com (Information Warfare Mailing List)
Organization: I'm not allowed to say
From: Fred Cohen <fc@all.net>
Mailing-List: list iwar@yahoogroups.com; contact iwar-owner@yahoogroups.com
Precedence: bulk
Date: Thu, 13 Jun 2002 05:26:55 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [iwar] [fc:New.Agency.Won't.Absorb.Livermore.Lab,.U.S..Says]
Reply-To: iwar@yahoogroups.com
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

San Jose Mercury News
June 12, 2002 
New Agency Won't Absorb Livermore Lab, U.S. Says
Anti-Terror Role Still Undefined
By Dan Stober, Mercury News
In one of the first tangible signs of the difficulties the White House faces
with its planned super-agency to fight terrorism, Bush administration
officials backtracked Tuesday on last week's announcement that the 7,500
workers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory would be swept into the
proposed Department of Homeland Security.
Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge said the 50-year-old laboratory and its
employees would not be largely affected but that the new department would
provide funding for some of its programs to counter biological, chemical and
radiological weapons.
The about-face came as Congress began hearings Tuesday on President Bush's
ambitious proposal, and as Bush pressed lawmakers to approve his blueprint
for gathering 100 agencies into a Cabinet-level department to combat
terrorism.
Livermore scientists were baffled by the White House plan. Several,
including nuclear specialist Tom Ramos, said its authors seemed to have
little knowledge of the lab. They seemed not to have understood that the
lab, while owned by the U.S. Energy Department, is managed by the University
of California, and that all employees are university employees.
"That was the big question," Ramos said. "Are they going to make everyone a
federal employee? That would be a big change for everyone. The people out
here are not feds."
Budget figures and an estimate of the number of lab employees involved also
were wrong -- and confusing. The White House stated that 324 lab workers
would move, but lab employees quickly determined that the figure referred to
the federal workers at the Energy Department regional office in Oakland.
Now, those Energy Department employees, who oversee Livermore and other
facilities, are bewildered about their future.
"I don't think our fate's been determined yet," one of the 324 said.
From the first announcement, lab workers were puzzled by the notion that all
would be transferred to a new department when only a relative handful --
perhaps 650 -- work in terrorism-related fields. The vast majority of the
scientists and perhaps two-thirds of the lab's $1.5 billion budget are
dedicated to the development and maintenance of nuclear weapons.
The worst fear was that nuclear weapons work would be shifted to Livermore's
rival, Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. The fear was fed by
White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card during an appearance Sunday morning
on "ABC This Week." When asked about the Livermore employees who work on
non-terrorism issues, he said: "Well, some of them may be going to the other
labs. You know, we have several labs that work on the same things that
Livermore lab has been working on."
It was hard to those knowledgeable of the lab to imagine the departure of
the nuclear weapons program, given the existence of non-portable equipment
such as the stadium-size, multibillion-dollar laser, the National Ignition
Facility, known as NIF.
"Taking 7,500 people and putting NIF on wheels and moving them all to
Washington does not make a lot of sense," said April Boyd, press aide to
Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Walnut Creek.
Tuesday, amid the confusion, Ridge's office said the Energy Department would
continue to supervise nuclear weapons work and that all workers would remain
University of California employees.
"That type of relationship will still pertain," said an official in Ridge's
office. He said "the funding for homeland security research will come" from
the new agency.
Much of Lawrence Livermore's work that would be of interest to homeland
security is housed in the Nonproliferation, Arms Control and International
Security Directorate. Scientists there are working, for example, on
detectors that would rapidly signal the presence of radiation or chemical
and biological agents. The directorate is also home to Z-Division, which for
decades has analyzed intelligence reports and technical data to determine
the design of the nuclear weapons of foreign nations.
Other scientists are working with their Russian counterparts to prevent
weapons-grade uranium and plutonium from falling into the hands of
terrorists.
Surgically separating some programs, even inside the lab, could be
problematic.
John Yio is a computer scientist who works in atmospheric research. Others
in his organization specialize in predicting how winds would spread
radioactivity, smoke or pathogens after an attack.
That activity would seem a natural for the new homeland defense
organization, but would Yio go as well? He said he has no idea. The only
official communication he has received was e-mail from John Gordon, the head
of the National Nuclear Security Administration, a subset of the Energy
Department.
"The NNSA chief sent out a memo telling people to stay put, work hard," Yio
said.
Livermore's employees, including managers, still haven't received official
word of what's happening. So complete was the White House information
barricade that the administration policy paper that was given to journalists
last week has still not been officially sent to laboratory managers. When
lab employees obtained a copy on their own last Thursday, they quickly faxed
it to Energy Department officials in Washington, who also were left in the
dark.
What's the plan?
"The truth is, we don't know," said Jill Schroeder, an Energy Department
information officer in Washington. "A proposal is before Congress. The
specifics will be worked out down the road."
Card, the White House chief of staff, has said that planning for the new
department was kept secret to minimize political warfare by agencies and
their supporters in Congress.
That secrecy has been criticized by Tauscher, who has proposed her own
legislation for homeland security.
"This is what happens when you put four people in a bunker at the White
House and cut people out of the loop who have a lot of knowledge on homeland
security issues," said Boyd, Tauscher's press aide. "Quite frankly, some of
it doesn't make much sense."

------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
Will You Find True Love?
Will You Meet the One?
Free Love Reading by phone!
http://us.click.yahoo.com/Deo18C/zDLEAA/Ey.GAA/kgFolB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->

------------------
http://all.net/ 

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
Next message: Fred Cohen: "[iwar] [fc:UK.anti-terrorist.officials.alarmed.at.US.tactics]"
Previous message: Fred Cohen: "[iwar] [fc:Now.showing.on.satellite.TV:.secret.American.spy.photos]"
Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ] [ attachment ]
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.2 : 2003-08-24 02:46:32 PDT