A publication of the Advanced Simulation & Computing Division, NA-121.2, NNSA Defense Programs
September 2008
NA-ASC-500-08—Issue 8
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The New Fiscal Year Cometh…
Editorial by Bob Meisner
For the past two years our budget has been determined by continuing resolution and it seems that we are facing that situation at least for the immediate future. There will be a continuing resolution up to the election and beyond and we are waiting to find out if the level of funding will be at 2008 levels or at the lower of the House and Senate marks. With a $66M difference between the marks, that decision will have a substantial impact on how we will be able to proceed.
Furthermore, the President will not submit an FY10 budget to allow the incoming administration to have a clean slate for implementing its direction. However, as part of the FY09 budget process there are various activities underway both at NNSA and at the laboratories to inform the transition teams about our priorities and to describe the importance and the range and breadth of our activities. Money is tight in Washington right now and the nation is facing a significant deficit. The competition for resources will affect programs in all agencies and ASC is no exception.
I believe that our work over the past several years to develop and publish increasingly specific direction documents, in concert with the laboratories, which outline our vision and detail our directions, will be of value to us in explaining our activities to new players both in NNSA and in the new administration. These direction documents include our vision statement for a predictive capability, our business plan, a detailed roadmap to predictability by addressing major areas of scientific uncertainty, a Platform Strategy, and, most recently, outlining our code strategy that depends on the special talents across the three laboratories and minimizes unnecessary redundancies. The plans we have developed and our reputation for strong management and excellence in execution should serve us well during these unsettled times. Simulation and computing will continue to be essential to the future of national security sciences including nuclear weapons certification and the grand challenges associated with the broad spectrum of potential threats, and I will do everything that I can to ensure that our program emerges from this transition recognized and healthy.
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