Hanford's new boss, Undersecretary Tom D'Agostino, came all the way to Hanford recently just to tell us that nothing is going to change ("Get job done at Hanford, DOE undersecretary says," Tri-City Herald, Sept. 15). What a disappointment. Instead of sending a clear message about safety, integrity and the value of employee input, D'Agostino mouthed the same platitudes as every other manager before him. He's "looking for efficiencies in construction to trim costs." He wants decisions "to be made efficiently."

The article states that he is focused on making a business case for work and "has not been afraid to make unpopular decisions to reduce costs." Really? That's what it's all about at the Waste Treatment Plant? Cost and schedule? It is this same song that has led the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board to engage in an unusually combative stance, warning that short-cuts on resolving technical issues cannot be tolerated, and that the plant's safety culture threatens the future operability of the only viable treatment method we have for Hanford's high-level waste. We need good leadership to get the Waste Treatment Plant back on track -- the current course takes us right over the cliff. As executive director of Hanford Challenge, I'd like to know, where is that leadership, Mr. D'Agostino?

TOM CARPENTER, Seattle