|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Updates from the SRSCRO
|
May 2019
|
|
Follow us on Twitter!
|
Rick McLeod @atomicasset
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FY20 Appropriation Status
Appropriations are annual decisions made by Congress about how the
 federal government spends some of its money. In general, the appropriations process addresses the discretionary portion of the budget - spending ranging from national defense to food safety to education to federal employee salaries - but excludes mandatory spending, such as Medicare and Social Security, which is spent automatically according to formulas.
Under current law, after the President submits the Administration's budget proposal to Congress, the House and Senate Budget Committees must propose a bill that ultimately must pass both chambers of Congress and be signed by the President in order to take effect. Although the budget process calls for 12 individual bills, many of them are often combined into what is known as an omnibus appropriations bill, and sometimes a few are combined into what has been termed a minibus appropriations bill.
When disagreements occur between the two houses of Congress, a conference committee meets to resolve these differences. The leaders of each party and budget committee in both houses choose members to participate in the conference committee. The report of the conference committee is returned to both houses for approval. It then goes to the President as an enrolled bill for approval or veto.
If the appropriations bills are not enacted before the fiscal year begins on October 1st, federal funding will lapse, resulting in a government shutdown. To avoid a shutdown, Congress will often pass a continuing resolution (CR), which extends funding and provides additional time for completion of the appropriations process. If Congress has passed some, but not all, of the 12 appropriations bills, a partial government shutdown can occur.
A continuing resolution, often referred to as a CR, is a temporary bill that continues funding for all programs based on a fixed formula, usually at or based on the prior year's funding levels. Congress can pass a CR for all or just some of the appropriations bills. CRs can increase or decrease funding and can include "anomalies," which adjust spending in certain accounts to avoid technical or administrative problems caused by continuing funding at current levels, or for other reasons.
 We are at the beginning of the appropriations process. The full House Appropriations Committee began the process with a markup of the FY2020 Energy & Water Appropriations bill on May 21, 2019 and it was approved on a vote of 31 to 21. This legislation funds the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Department of the Interior programs, the Department of Energy, and other related agencies.
Report language refers to the content of committee reports accompanying committee-reported measures as well as joint explanatory statements which are attached to conference reports. Such documents contain more detailed guidance to departments and agencies than is provided in related appropriations bills or conference reports. Report language to appropriations measures and related conference reports generally includes detailed spending instructions, directives, expectations, and, sometimes, spending restrictions. The funding instructions set aside spending within lump-sum amounts in the bill or conference report for designated purposes, such as specified programs, projects, or activities.
The House
Appropriations Committee
report provides $37.1 billion for the Department of Energy (DOE). Within the DOE budget, the House report includes $7.2 billion for the Office of Environmental Management (EM). The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) would have one of its highest budgets in history, as the House report includes $15.9 billion, a $665 million increase above FY 2019. The House Appropriations Committee report is available
here
.
The manager's amendment makes technical and noncontroversial changes to the bill and report. The amendment was adopted by voice vote. Included in this amendment was language reminding DOE "...of its authority to transfer excess personal property and equipment to DOE-designated Community Reuse Organizations in order to promote economic diversification and job creation in communities where the Department's sites are located and is encouraged to ensure that relevant agency employees throughout the Department are aware of current policies to implement this authority."
A separate amendment offered by Idaho Republican Rep. Mike Simpson to provide about $74 million to continue the process to license a national nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain was defeated by a 27 to 25 vote.
Closer to home, Savannah River Site would receive a $42 million increase in its budget over FY19 enacted funding. Included in this proposed funding are funds for the SRS Emergency Operations Center and the Advanced Manufacturing Collaborative facility. The Bill still must pass the full House vote and the Senate before going to the president's desk. A summary of the bill can be found here. The full text of the bill is here.
|
|
DOE Cyber Conference
For the past several years the Department of Energy's (DOE) Cyber Conference has brought together the DOE enterprise, the federal interagency, academia, international partners, and private industry to advance cyber and IT modernization efforts across DOE's diverse and shared missions. This year t
he Office of the Chief Information Officer hosted the 2019 DOE Cyber Conference on May 13-16, 2019, in Denver, CO.
The Cyber Conference reported over 1,000 attendees. U.S. Under Secretary of Energy, Mark W. Menezes, provided the keynote address. The Conference provided an interactive forum for communication, collaboration, and training, as well as a platform for sharing information and best practices to support the Department's energy, science, nuclear, and national security missions. This year the SRSCRO attended the conference to network and socialize the Cyber X Factor of the Savannah River Site .
The conference agenda consisted of plenary sessions to highlight the latest developments and innovations, breakout sessions to foster new cooperation and partnerships, and practical training exercises to enhance the capabilities of the information technology and cyber workforce.
The DOE Cyber Strategy readily acknowledges that recruiting, training, and retaining a world-class workforce is the linchpin to successful execution. From specialized user and risk awareness training to modernizing the technical abilities of the IT and cybersecurity workforce, enabling continuous learning is necessary to meet the challenges of a continuously evolving environment and foster a culture of cybersecurity. The panel "Building, Training, and Retaining the Cyber Workforce of the Future" focused on this topic.
Another panel focused on Women in Cybersecurity or 'WiCy". This panel emphasized the importance of a more inclusive culture in the field of cybersecurity. During this session, members, individually and collectively, discussed the need to collaborate and celebrate the overall interest and contributions of girls and women in this field.
Another interesting panel and session discussed Artificial intelligence (AI). This topic has garnered a lot of media attention lately, as innovations in the technology continue, and it expands into various facets of our everyday lives. Cyber security is certainly no exception, as AI performs various functions in supporting and defending the cyber environment. Perhaps AI offers a niche opportunity for local DOE and DOD collaboration and synergy.
|
|
JASON - No not that One
 JASON
is an independent group of elite scientists, which advises the
United States government on matters of science and technology, mostly of a sensitive nature. It was established in 1960 and has somewhere between 30 and 60 members.
JASON typically performs most of its work during an annual summer study, and has conducted studies under contract to the Department of Defense (frequently DARPA and the U.S. Navy), the Department of Energy, the U.S. Intelligence Community, and the FBI.
For administrative purposes, JASON's activities are run through the MITRE
Corporation, a non-profit corporation in McLean, Virginia
, which operates seven Federally Funded Research and Development Centers
(FFRDCs) for the Federal Government of the United States
.
The latest contract for the group's work existed under an indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract, which allowed for an unlimited number of deliveries over a fixed time period. That contract was between the Pentagon's undersecretary of research and engineering and the MITRE corporation. However, that contract was allowed to expire on March 31, with a final tasking order set to expire at the end of April. The Pentagon has said the move was made as a cost-saving measure and that the open-ended nature of JASON no longer makes sense
.
The cancellation of the JASON contract came to light during a hearing featuring
National Nuclear Security Administration
(NNSA) head Lisa Gordon-Hagerty
, who said she had asked her staff to look into what the Pentagon's cancellation of the contract would mean for her agency. At the end of April, the NNSA quietly put a notice of a sole-source contract up on the FedBizOps website, to "award a short-term sole source contract to MITRE Corporation to provide management and logistics support to the JASON program and its members, referred to as 'The Jasons.'"
In essence, NNSA seeks to recreate the Pentagon's contract with the advisory group through the end of next January, in order to keep key research from falling apart.
JASON planned to do 13 studies this summer, including three for office of the secretary of defense and three for the National Nuclear Security Administration within the Department of Energy (DOE).
JASON members include physicists, biologists, chemists, oceanographers, mathematicians, and computer scientists, predominated by
theoretical physicists. They are selected by current members, and, over the years, have included eleven Nobel Prize laureates and several dozen members of the United States National Academy of Sciences. All members have a wide-range of security clearances that allow them to do their work.
The name "JASON" is sometimes explained as an acronym, standing either for "July August September October November", the months in which the group would typically meet; or, tongue in cheek, for "Junior Achiever, Somewhat Older Now". However, neither explanation is correct; in fact, the name is not an acronym at all. It is a reference to Jason, a character from Greek mythology. The wife of one of the founders (Mildred Goldberger) thought the name given by the defense department, Project Sunrise, was unimaginative and suggested the group be named for a hero and his search.
If you have interest in learning more about this group and its research, check out this 2006 book.
|
|
|
SRSCRO
Spotlight
It is with great pride and joy that we share the news of Mindy Mets' first grandchild, Noah Thomas Mets, born on Sunday, May 19, 2019. Latest reports are that Noah and his parents', Patty and Joey Mets, are doing great.
|
|
NNSA Strategic
Documents
On May 6, the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE/NNSA) released three strategic documents to guide efforts across the Nuclear Security Enterprise:
1. NNSA's Strategic Vision identifies values, principles, mission priorities, and goals to ensure the agency is responsive to the Nation's nuclear security and strategic defense needs. The vision aligns with guidance from the 2017 National Security Strategy (NSS) and the requirements laid out in the 2018 Nuclear Posture Review (NPR).
2. The Governance & Management Framework focuses on the "One NNSA" team approach to mission integration and strategic planning, and establishes clear roles and responsibilities across the enterprise. The Framework encompasses the Federal headquarters and field office staff, as well as the Management and Operating (M&O) partners at NNSA's eight laboratories, plants, and sites. Its goal is to show how the agency will deliver its mission in a resilient, agile, and responsive manner.
3. The agency's Strategic Integrated Road Map illustrates the path to achieving goals now and into the future. NNSA's mission priorities include maintaining the stockpile, countering proliferation threats, keeping the nuclear Navy moving, applying world-class scientific and technological discoveries to real-world problems, and modernizing the infrastructure of the enterprise.
|
|
May Flowers
Fun Facts
1. Flowers did not always exist; they first appeared 140 million years ago. Before that, ferns and cone bearing trees dominated the earth.
 2. Several centuries ago in Holland, tulips were more valuable than gold.
3. Some plants, such as orchids, do not need soil to grow - they get all of their nutrients from the air.
4. Some plants produce toxic substances that kill other plants around them - the sunflower is an example.
 5. Carnivorous plants are flowering plants that eat bugs and small animals! For example, the Venus fly trap has leaves covered by little hairs. When a bug lands on the hairs, the trap snaps shut and digestive juices digest the bug. Other carnivorous plants such as pitcher plants have leaves that form pitchers that are full of digestive fluids. Insects, frogs, and other small creatures are attracted to the nectar and bright colors on the pitchers and flowers. Some unfortunate critters fall in, drown, and are digested.
6. Not all flowers smell good. One of the world's rarest, largest, smelliest, and strangest looking flower is the titan arum, or the corpse flower, getting its name because it smells like a rotting dead body. The bloom is over 8 foot tall and 12 feet in circumference. They smell like rotting flesh in order to attract flies. People have been known to pass out from the stench!
 7. The largest flower in the world is the flower of the Puya raimondii, which has a flower stalk that can grow up to 30 feet tall and bears thousands of white flowers.
8. Mimosa punica, or sensitive plant, will actually fold up its leaves when it is touched. It has whitish pink fuzzy flowers that look like little pom poms.
9. The Bird of Paradise is a beautiful, oddly shaped plant that resembles a colorful tropical bird.
 10. Corkscrew vine flower, Vigna Caracalla, has a flower shaped like nautilus shells.
11. Hydrangeas' color is determined by the acidity of the soil it's planted in. If the soil is too alkaline it will result in pink Hydrangeas.
 12. Just when you thought that flowers could not get any more miraculous comes along Chocolate Cosmos. These beautiful dark burgundy flowers smell exactly like chocolate.
13. Daffodils are used as currency for Prince Charles, he is paid one daffodil a year as rent for his lands on the Island of Scilly and off the coast of Cornwall.
14. Roses share a relation with almonds, apples, raspberries, cherries, peaches, plums, nectarines, and pears. Roses have rose hips, which are a berry fruit in some roses. Rose hips are used to make jellies or teas as they are loaded with Vitamin C.
|
|
|
|
Closing Thoughts
|
|
I think on-stage nudity is disgusting, shameful and damaging to all things American. But if I were 22 with a great body, it would be artistic, tasteful, patriotic and a progressive religious experience.-- Shelley Winters
Love has no place in a lawyer's office. -- Elizabeth Aston
A family is a unit composed not only of children but of men, women, an occasional animal, and the common cold. -- Ogden Nash
Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men. -- Martin Luther King Jr.
Fish is the only food that is considered spoiled once it smells like what it is. -- P. J. O'Rourke
To err is human; to forgive, infrequent. -- Franklin P. Adams
If you drink, don't drive. Don't even putt. -- Dean Martin
The surest way to make a monkey of a man is to quote him. -- Robert Benchley
|
|
Contact Information
|
SRSCRO, PO Box 696, Aiken, SC 29802
Staff:
Rick McLeod - President/CEO - 803-508-7402
Mindy Mets - NWI® Program Manager - 803-508-7403
Amy Merry - Administrative & Business Manager - 803-508-7401
Kim Saxon - Assistant Coordinator - 803-508-7656
|
|
| |
|
