Posted on 12/22/2005 2:41:30 PM PST by shooter223
BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) -- The relationship between the University of California and Los Alamos National Laboratory began as a wartime affair conducted against the tense backdrop of the race to finish an atomic bomb. The union has endured for 63 years, some of them rocky.
Wednesday marked a new chapter as the government - apparently forgiving a series of alleged financial and security gaffes - asked the university to continue managing the lab that built the atom bomb. A UC bid, made in partnership with engineering giant Bechtel Corp., prevailed over a rival team made up of the University of Texas and defense contractor Lockheed Martin.
The government contract, put out to bid this year for the first time, is worth up to $512 million over seven years, with a provision to extend it to 20 years.
"This is a new contract with a new team, marking a new approach to the management of Los Alamos," Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said at a news conference in Washington.
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
D'oh... Leftists in labsuits are the most likley to do espanoge.
How did this happen. They hate America so much don't they give our secrets to whomever?
That's just a guess. I don't know if this decision got as high as the political appointees of the current administration.
It means that UC administers the lab, and the director and top management are UC employees, regardless of whether they originally hailed from UC. It is not as if LANL becomes a part of UC and the rank and file are replaced with UC personnel. The employees will still come from far and wide as they always have, and I doubt that UC retaining the contract will increase (or decrease) the likelyhood of data security. There have been some screwups in recent years, but I don't believe its a specific trait attributable only to UC.
BTW, this relationship between LANL and UC has been in place for 63 years. Check out http://www.lanl.gov for more info.
I worked there for a bit in the 1990's, and the only impact UC seemed to have on my work experience was the fact that I had a 403(b) instead of a 401(k).
I had thought I read all this was moved to Texas.
The employees of LANL participate in the University of California Retirement System. Disassociating LANL from UC would have created a nightmare from the perspective of the pension rights of current LANL employees who have been contributing to UCRS.
True, there are likely several reasons of administrative inertia for which a change in management would be complicated. Since I was a Grad Research Associate I only had a 403(b). May well have had other UC benefits like healthcare (don't recall), but day to day life was not impacted by anything UC did.
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