I came across an interesting letter (full text) from then-Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.
The letter was Bodman’s parting shot — he cc’d then Energy Secretary-designate Steven Chu — on nuclear weapons modernization. (Chu was sworn in on January 21, 2009.)
Bodman warns that the lack of enthusiasm for nuclear weapons threatens the health of the stockpile:
[T]he laboratory directors shared their perspective that the science and engineering basis that enables assessment and modifcation of the stockpile is fragile and potentially at risk from budget and morale concerns at the labs. This perspective is attributed primarily to a sense of uncertain national support for the nuclear deterrent mission.
This argument is totally lazy — Bodman (and others) make no effort to establish a causal relationship between policy choices, morale and efficacy of stockpile stewardship, let alone to quantify those relationships.
As a result, the argument boils down to “not doing my pet program will make the labs sad and, as a result, they will stop doing their job.”
Boo-f’ing-hoo.
I am all for giving the labs a clear and compelling mission, but this is the argument of a “make-work” program.