Defense & Military

Lt. Gen. James Kowalski, the head of the Air Force’s Global Strike Command, has suggested a note of caution to proponents of reducing the size of the nation’s nuclear stockpile, but he said yesterday in a breakfast meeting with reporters that he would be comfortable with small cuts to the arsenal. “Can you go below 1,550?” as […]

The Senate Armed Services Committee has postponed a vote on Defense Secretary nominee Chuck Hagel as GOP members of the panel sought additional information from the former Nebraska senator. In a letter to Hagel, 25 GOP senators yesterday raised concerns about money Hagel may have received from an array of organizations. The letter asks that […]

The Senate Armed Services Committee is expected to vote today on the nomination of Chuck Hagel, but the Obama Administration’s Defense Secretary pick is expected to face a bumpy road to confirmation on the Senate floor. Republicans have voiced concerns about a wide variety of Hagel’s views, including his support of major reductions to the […]

The nation’s nuclear deterrent won’t be immune to cuts under government-wide spending cuts known as sequestration that are slated to go into effect in March, but Deputy Defense Secretary Ash Carter told a Senate panel yesterday that the Administration would do its best to ease the impact of the cuts. “Nuclear deterrence is pretty important,” […]

The Senate Armed Services Committee cleared the nomination of Defense Secretary nominee Chuck Hagel by a straight party line vote of 14-11 yesterday, but not before Republicans took another chance to weigh in with their concerns about the former Nebraska senator. A vote on Hagel’s nomination by the full Senate is expected by the end […]

The Pentagon lacked “visibility” on more than $7.2 billion in funds provided to the Department of Energy starting in Fiscal Year 2010 and didn’t follow procedures to track the spending, according to a recently released Department of Defense Inspector General report. The Feb. 15 report does not suggest that any of the money was misspent, […]

The head of Air Force Global Strike Command suggested late last week that the U.S. should approach further reductions to its nuclear stockpile cautiously and should take into account the impact of potential reductions on the knowledge base that underpins the nation’s nuclear deterrent. “I’m charged with organizing training and equipping a force,” Lt. Gen. […]

A bill introduced in the House of Representatives Friday by Rep. Michael Turner (R-Ohio) would shift responsibility for protecting National Nuclear Security Administration sites to the military as fallout from the July security breach at the Y-12 National Security Complex continues. The “Securing Our Nuclear Weapons and Facilities Act,” which is unlikely to gain traction […]

As the National Nuclear Security Administration refines its alternative plutonium strategy, Strategic Command chief Gen. Robert Kehler said yesterday that he is is slowly gaining confidence in the plan. Since the Obama Administration decided to defer construction of the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement-Nuclear Facility in February, deciding to pursue an alternative strategy that includes […]

A bipartisan group of eight Senators wants the Obama Administration to reverse course on the deferred Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement-Nuclear Facility, and they are appealing to the Department of Defense to lead the effort. In a June 29 letter to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta obtained by NW&M Monitor, Sens. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), Ben Nelson […]

The Obama Administration’s decision to slow work on the W76 refurbishment erased any margin for error in the key life extension program, but a senior Navy official said late last week that the service was comfortable with the change and signed off on the decision. Faced with tightening budgets, the NNSA said in February that […]

Longtime Pentagon nuclear weapons official Steve Henry is leaving the Department of Defense to become the Director of Global Security for Nevada National Security Site contractor National Security Technologies, LLC. Henry, who has served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear Matters since 2003, will head up a new directorate at the test […]

House authorizers went too far in drafting language that would move the National Nuclear Security Administration’s two biggest projects, the Uranium Processing Facility and the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement-Nuclear Facility, to the Pentagon, according to a senior Department of Defense official. Speaking at a Capitol Hill Club breakfast event yesterday, Deputy Assistant Secretary of […]

In a potential glimpse into the Obama Administration’s plans to reduce the nation’s nuclear stockpile, a top Air Force official told the Boston Globe yesterday that the U.S. could move to cut from its reserve stockpile of nuclear weapons. “We have more backup systems in terms of weapons systems than we actually have deployed,” Air […]

The House Armed Services Committee approved legislation yesterday that would shift construction responsibility of the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement-Nuclear Facility and the Uranium Processing Facility—and all major National Nuclear Security Administration projects in the future—to the Department of Defense. The drastic move, which is likely to run up against opposition in the Senate, is […]

The Senate Armed Services Committee reported out the nominations of seven Pentagon nominees yesterday, including Jim Miller, the Obama Administration’s pick to be Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, and Kathleen Hicks, the President’s selection to take over as Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy. Miller is currently serving as the Pentagon’s top […]

NATO members convening in Chicago yesterday endorsed the alliance’s Deterrence and Defense Posture Review, and as expected, the documented contained few surprises. The review recommits NATO to work toward a world free of nuclear weapons, as the alliance stated at its Lisbon Summit in 2010, but said it will remain a nuclear alliance for as […]

Arms control advocates have panned NATO’s recently released Deterrence and Defense Posture Review as a disappointment, suggesting that it does little to alter the alliance’s declaratory posture and doesn’t go far enough in pushing for reductions to the approximately 200 U.S. tactical nuclear weapons deployed in Europe. But Ivo Daalder, the United States’ ambassador to […]

The Senate firmed up leadership of the Department of Defense’s policy shop late last week, confirming Jim Miller, the Obama Administration’s pick to be Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, and Kathleen Hicks, the President’s selection to take over as Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy. The chamber confirmed the nominees as part […]

The subject of reforming the National Nuclear Security Administration has been a hotly debated topic on Capitol Hill over the last few months, but the commander of U.S. Strategic Command declined to definitively weigh in on the subject yesterday. Asked during an appearance at the Council on Foreign Relations whether he felt the NNSA needed […]

The Government Accountability Office has given a sound bill of health to a 2009 Air Force/National Nuclear Security Administration study that recommended against increasing the transport of nuclear weapons via air travel. The GAO was asked by Congress to analyze the results and methodology of the Congressionally mandated study that found that despite technological advances, […]

United States Strategic Command chief Gen. Robert Kehler will testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee next Tuesday, potentially addressing the Obama Administration’s nuclear modernization plan as part of testimony on the Fiscal Year 2013 budget request. Kehler will appear before the committee along with U.S. Cyber Command Gen. Keith Alexander at 9:30 a.m. in […]

Gen. Robert Kehler, the head of U.S. Strategic Command, acknowledged yesterday that fiscal belt tightening has forced difficult funding choices for the nation’s nuclear forces, but he singled out concern for the decision to defer construction of the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement-Nuclear Facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory. The facility, as recently as last […]

The Fourth Annual Nuclear Deterrence Summit will get started tomorrow in Arlington, bringing together key Obama Administration officials, military leaders, internationally recognized experts and industry executives to discuss the future of the U.S. nuclear deterrent. Keynote speakers include:  Jon Kyl, U.S. Senator, Arizona Michael Turner, U.S. Congressman, Ohio Daniel Poneman, Deputy Secretary, U.S. Department of […]

Commenting on that ongoing review of the nation’s strategic deployed stockpile, Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Jim Miller said yesterday that while current levels would be the default option, he may support reducing the number of deployed weapons. “I do believe that there are steps we could take to further strengthen our […]

The decision by the Obama Administration to defer work on the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement-Nuclear Facility and accelerate work on the Uranium Processing Facility wasn’t an easy or popular one, but it’s one that had to be made, according to a senior Pentagon official. “The fiscal situation forced some hard choices,” John Harvey, the […]

Sen. Jon Kyl and Rep. Michael Turner will join Deputy Secretary of Energy Daniel Poneman and Under Secretary of State Ellen Tauscher in headlining the Fourth Annual Nuclear Deterrence Summit, set for Feb. 14-17, 2012 in Arlington, Va. This is an event anyone involved in the NNSA marketplace won’t want to miss. Other keynote speakers […]

President Obama, as expected, yesterday announced his intent to nominate James Miller as Under Secretary of Defense for Policy. Miller is currently serving as the principal deputy to current Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Michele Fluornoy, who is stepping down from the post Feb. 3. Miller joined the Pentagon in 2009 after serving as […]

The Senate Armed Services Committee yesterday approved a new version of the FY 2012 Defense Authorization bill, making deeper cuts to authorized levels than the bill the committee originally reported out in June. For DOE’s Office of Environmental Management, the bill reduces the authorization level for defense cleanup work to $5.06 billion, down from $5.4 […]

Fresh off his “oops” moment at a GOP presidential debate earlier this month, Texas Gov. Rick Perry outlined his plan to abolish the Department of Energy but spare the National Nuclear Security Administration. In a policy statement posted on his website yesterday, Perry highlighted the elimination of DOE as part of his plan to “uproot, […]