Non-Proliferation

President Donald Trump told the New York Times that if a U.S.-Russia nuclear agreement “expires, it expires” and he would “just do a better agreement,” a statement the Union of Concerned Scientists thinks could be dangerous. The New Strategic Arms Reduction (New START) Treaty, signed in 2010 by then U.S. and Russian presidents Barack Obama […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s Counterterrorism and Counterproliferation Office led a U.S. delegation at the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence’s Nuclear Forensics User Group Annual Plenary, the agency said Dec. 15. NFUG involves scientists of U.S. national laboratories, the Pentagon, the DOE, the State Department and the UK counterparts of each agency. Its goal is […]

The Change of Command ceremony for the commander of the U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM) will be held Friday, Dec. 5, where Vice. Adm. Richard Correll will replace Gen. Anthony Cotton. Correll was confirmed Thursday, Nov. 21 in the Senate by voice vote. The ceremony will be held at 10 a.m. Central time at Offutt Air […]

Government and commercial imagery could help fill a void in on-site nuclear inspections, given the upcoming lapse in the New Strategic Arms Reduction (New START) Treaty protocol next February, a new report by the Federation of American Scientists said. The Federation of American Scientists (FAS), a nonproliferation-focused nonprofit founded in 1945 by Manhattan Project scientists, […]

Diana Toebbe, the wife in the husband-and-wife duo sentenced for conspiracy charges related to nuclear warships, has an appeal pending in a West Virginia federal district court, a document says. Diana and her husband Jonathan Toebbe, a naval nuclear engineer in the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program, are a Maryland couple sentenced in 2022 for allegedly […]

Diana Toebbe, the wife in the husband-and-wife duo sentenced for conspiracy charges related to nuclear warships, has an appeal pending in a West Virginia federal district court, a document says. Diana and her husband Jonathan Toebbe, a naval nuclear engineer in the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program, are a Maryland couple sentenced in 2022 for allegedly […]

Government and commercial imagery could help fill a void in on-site nuclear inspections, given the upcoming lapse in the New Strategic Arms Reduction (New START) Treaty protocol next February, a new report by the Federation of American Scientists said. The Federation of American Scientists (FAS), a nonproliferation-focused nonprofit founded in 1945 by Manhattan Project scientists, […]

Ernest Moniz, former energy secretary and head of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, said in an interview with Christiane Amanpour returning to explosive nuclear testing would have a “quite terrible” impact “on multiple dimensions.” When asked about President Donald Trump’s announcement that the U.S. would return to nuclear testing “on an equal basis” with other countries, […]

Ernest Moniz, former energy secretary and head of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, said in an interview with Christiane Amanpour returning to explosive nuclear testing would have a “quite terrible” impact “on multiple dimensions.” When asked about President Donald Trump’s announcement that the U.S. would return to nuclear testing “on an equal basis” with other countries, […]

In the wake of President Donald Trump’s announcement that the United States would test nuclear weapons “on an equal basis” with other countries, Secretary of Energy Chris Wright clarified this did not mean explosive tests. “I think the tests we’re talking about right now are systems tests,” Wright said in the interview last week on […]

There have been reports since 2019 on Russia and China’s potential noncompliance with the Threshold Test Ban Treaty, one of President Donald Trump’s Department of Defense nominees said in Senate testimony Tuesday. Robert Kadlec, Trump’s nominee to be assistant secretary of defense for nuclear deterrence, chemical, and biological defense policy and programs, mentioned the reports […]

Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nev.) introduced a bill last week to prohibit the United States from conducting explosive nuclear tests, a move aimed at countering recently-announced plans of President Donald Trump. The bill was proposed shortly after Trump announced he has directed the Pentagon to resume nuclear testing on pace with other countries. “Donald Trump has […]

There have been reports since 2019 on Russia and China’s potential noncompliance with the Threshold Test Ban Treaty, one of President Donald Trump’s Department of Defense nominees said in Senate testimony Tuesday. Robert Kadlec, Trump’s nominee to be assistant secretary of defense for nuclear deterrence, chemical, and biological defense policy and programs, mentioned the reports […]

In the wake of President Donald Trump’s announcement that the United States would test nuclear weapons “on an equal basis” with other countries, Secretary of Energy Chris Wright clarified this did not mean explosive tests. “I think the tests we’re talking about right now are systems tests,” Wright said in the interview last week on […]

President Donald Trump said on his Truth Social account Wednesday he ordered the Pentagon to “immediately” begin the process of testing nuclear weapons “on an equal basis” with Russia and China. Trump’s announcement came around an hour before he was set to meet with Chinese president Xi Jinping. It also came the day before Vice […]

Christine Wormuth, most recently the Secretary of the Army, will be the Washington-based nonprofit Nuclear Threat Initiative’s (NTI) newest president and third chief executive officer effective Nov. 17, the organization announced last week. “NTI’s mission to reduce global nuclear, biological, and emerging technology threats is more vital than ever,” Wormuth said in NTI’s release, adding […]

Matthew Napoli, President Donald Trump’s pick for Deputy Administrator for Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation (DNN) at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), was sworn in Oct. 3 by Secretary of Energy Chris Wright. Napoli announced the swearing in on his LinkedIn page Sunday.  “A special thank you to the incredible NNSA leadership team of Brandon Williams […]

Russia withdrew Thursday from a 25-year-old agreement with the United States that had both parties cut back on leftover plutonium from weapons from the Cold War, Russia’s State Duma website said. The Duma voted on the bill Thursday, and State Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said the agreement “should have been terminated long ago.” The bill […]

Matthew Napoli, President Donald Trump’s pick for Deputy Administrator for Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation (DNN) at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), was sworn in Oct. 3 by Secretary of Energy Chris Wright. Napoli announced the swearing in on his LinkedIn page Sunday.  “A special thank you to the incredible NNSA leadership team of Brandon Williams […]

Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the largest nuclear plant in Europe and one under Russian occupation, has been cut off from its external power supply for over a week, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency said Tuesday. The U.N. nuclear watchdog said this was the “longest lasting such event during more than […]

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a meeting with his security council Monday that Moscow will respect the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) for one year past its expiration date. Putin said Moscow would adhere to the limits of the nuclear arms reduction treaty for one more year if the United States does […]

The U.S. needs to revise its anti-proliferation strategy by creating new compacts with allies, pursuing diplomacy with peer adversaries and revitalizing nuclear exports, the Task Force on Nuclear Proliferation and U.S. National Security said in a report. The bipartisan task force, consisting of former senior government officials and experts on national security, published the report […]

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a meeting with his security council Monday that Moscow will respect the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) for one year past its expiration date. Putin said Moscow would adhere to the limits of the nuclear arms reduction treaty for one more year if the United States does […]

The U.S. needs to revise its anti-proliferation strategy by creating new compacts with allies, pursuing diplomacy with peer adversaries and revitalizing nuclear exports, the Task Force on Nuclear Proliferation and U.S. National Security said in a report. The bipartisan task force, consisting of former senior government officials and experts on national security, published the report […]

Technology provider Parsons announced Wednesday the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) awarded the company a $13 million multiple award contract for deploying systems for counter-nuclear smuggling in the Indo-Pacific. The task order calls to deliver “end-to-end” support for counter-nuclear smuggling systems in 18 countries in the region, the press release said. Support could come in […]

Technology provider Parsons announced Wednesday the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) awarded the company a $13 million multiple award contract for deploying systems for counter-nuclear smuggling in the Indo-Pacific. The task order calls to deliver “end-to-end” support for counter-nuclear smuggling systems in 18 countries in the region, the press release said. Support could come in […]

Progress “has been made” between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency, the nuclear watchdog’s director general Rafael Grossi said in his introductory statement to the Board of Governors meeting Sept. 8 in Vienna. “We have attentively followed the most recent developments in Tehran, in particular the Parliament of Iran’s adoption on 25 June of […]

Satellite images show construction has intensified at a facility linked to Israel’s suspected nuclear weapons program, AP News said this week. The images could imply that Israel is “quietly expanding its nuclear arsenal,” the article alleged, adding Israel could face international criticism for growing a secret nuclear program while bombing Iran’s nuclear facilities.  Meanwhile, Israel […]

The E3 countries, consisting of France, Britain and Germany, initiated a process Thursday to reimpose sanctions on Iran through a snapback mechanism in the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. The U.S. State Department said in a statement that the E3 has “ laid out a clear case of Iran’s continuing ‘significant non-performance’ of its […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is teaming up with Anthropic to build a tool that can determine whether artificial intelligence is providing knowledge on nuclear weapons that can be used for nefarious purposes. Anthropic, a 2021 San Francisco-based AI safety and research company that built AI assistant models like Claude, announced last week that […]