Return-Path: <sentto-279987-4824-1023971207-fc=all.net@returns.groups.yahoo.com> Delivered-To: fc@all.net Received: from 204.181.12.215 [204.181.12.215] by localhost with POP3 (fetchmail-5.7.4) for fc@localhost (single-drop); Thu, 13 Jun 2002 05:28:08 -0700 (PDT) Received: (qmail 4649 invoked by uid 510); 13 Jun 2002 12:26:59 -0000 Received: from n18.grp.scd.yahoo.com (66.218.66.73) by all.net with SMTP; 13 Jun 2002 12:26:59 -0000 X-eGroups-Return: sentto-279987-4824-1023971207-fc=all.net@returns.groups.yahoo.com Received: from [66.218.67.197] by n18.grp.scd.yahoo.com with NNFMP; 13 Jun 2002 12:26:47 -0000 X-Sender: fc@red.all.net X-Apparently-To: iwar@onelist.com Received: (EGP: mail-8_0_3_2); 13 Jun 2002 12:26:47 -0000 Received: (qmail 55230 invoked from network); 13 Jun 2002 12:26:47 -0000 Received: from unknown (66.218.66.216) by m4.grp.scd.yahoo.com with QMQP; 13 Jun 2002 12:26:47 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO red.all.net) (12.232.72.152) by mta1.grp.scd.yahoo.com with SMTP; 13 Jun 2002 12:26:46 -0000 Received: (from fc@localhost) by red.all.net (8.11.2/8.11.2) id g5DCQt702737 for iwar@onelist.com; Thu, 13 Jun 2002 05:26:55 -0700 Message-Id: <200206131226.g5DCQt702737@red.all.net> To: iwar@onelist.com (Information Warfare Mailing List) Organization: I'm not allowed to say X-Mailer: don't even ask X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.5 PL3] From: Fred Cohen <fc@all.net> X-Yahoo-Profile: fcallnet Mailing-List: list iwar@yahoogroups.com; contact iwar-owner@yahoogroups.com Delivered-To: mailing list iwar@yahoogroups.com Precedence: bulk List-Unsubscribe: <mailto:iwar-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com> 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 X-Spam-Status: No, hits=0.0 required=5.0 tests=DIFFERENT_REPLY_TO version=2.20 X-Spam-Level: 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/
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