Pros

Any combination of:
1) You want to work on top secret projects while living in California and earning more than military or intelligence agency peers.
2) You want to work on cutting-edge supercomputing.
3) You want a very predictable work schedule/life, salary progression, etc.
4) You want to work in an environment where "slow and steady" is the name of the game.
5) You would like having a big office all to yourself.
6) You want to hide out and accomplish nothing without anyone noticing or caring (not my cup of tea personally, but it works for some people).
7) You would like to earn a Ph.D. in a job-relevant subject with the support and sponsorship of your employer.
8) You enjoy interesting talks about science and national security.
9) You like working around a decent concentration of very intelligent people.
x) They used to sponsor an excellent continuing education / leadership training program on-site, but it is all but dead following the contract transition

Cons

* The bureaucracy and inefficiency are monstrous--you have no idea!
* If you enjoy working in an energetic, fast-paced, exciting workplace, this is not the place for you.
* Valuable human capital is endlessly squandered.
* Security policies are intrusive and oppressive; many, like prohibiting personal email, are pointless.
* LLNL has great difficulty attracting new business because of outrageous costs and foolish rules.
* Senior management has no idea how to right this foundering ship. No clue. And they don't listen.
* The ranking process is an insult and an unbelievable waste of time. Every single lab employee hates it except for the lab director himself; he insists that it must continue forever.
* Although the people are OK, there isn't much social interaction at work.

Advice to Senior Management

Offering advice to senior management is pointless; that ship has sailed. But, for argument's sake...

I respect the great science you have done in years past. Now, please retire and make room for new leaders with fresh ideas. Bring in outsiders to shake things up. Give this institution some hope of turning around, surviving beyond the next decade and continuing the legacy of brilliant science and achievement. Do what it takes to recruit and retain a new generation of talent.

Stop focusing on the past and start positioning the lab to take advantage of new opportunities. Diversify your programs and take advantage of opportunities for multidisciplinary synergy. Stop thumbing your nose at contracts under $xx million that "aren't worth the bother". Don't crush small but healthy and successful programs out of laziness and apathy. Tell congress that NIF needs to pay its own freight or that's that; don't tax every other program to death in order to keep NIF afloat.