The future of Los Alamos 3

Tuesday night, I listened to Director Anastasio talk about the RIF and about ongoing business at the Lab.

To me, the take home message was very clear.

LANS will balance each year's income and expenses. Given the current funding and Congress's continuing resolution, the only way to balance income and expenses for the year is to fire people. All other methods, such as laying off contractors, have already been tried and no longer offer a budget savings.

Once the budget is balanced, the budgeting is not finished. There needs to be a surplus in the budget so that unexpected expenses can be covered and so that items in dire need of repair, for instance many of the buildings, can be repaired.

All short term decisions appear to be driven by the need to balance the budget and to accomplish the mission deliverables to NNSA and other sponsors.