Nuclear Security & Deterrence Vol. 18 No. 46

Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile

Wrap Up

NS&D Monitor 12/5/2014 IN THE NNSA As expected, Teresa Robbins has been named deputy manager of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Production Office. The NPO oversees the work at the Y-12 and Pantex nuclear weapons plants. It was reported in October that Robbins has been selected to fill the position, which had been held by […]
  • Non-Proliferation

    End to CTR Program After FY 2015 Directed in Defense Bill

    Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 12/5/2014 House and Senate authorizers are curtailing the Department of Defense’s Cooperative Threat Reduction program, withdrawing support for the program after Fiscal Year 2015, according to the compromise version of the FY 2015 National Defense Authorization Act released this week. The CTR program, created by Sens. Richard Lugar and Sam Nunn […]

  • Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile

    OST Squad Commander ‘Engaged in Unsuitable, Reportable Behaviors’

    Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 12/5/2014 An Operations Squad Commander with the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Office of Secure Transportation “engaged in unsuitable, reportable behaviors,” the Department of Energy’s Inspector General said this week. The IG did not release its Nov. 24 report on the Office of Secure Transportation, which protects nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons […]

  • Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile

    Former Rep.: If U.S. Can’t Afford Modernization, ‘We’re in Big Trouble’

    Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 12/5/2014 The United States must upgrade its nuclear deterrent and the $600 billion-$1 trillion 30-year price tag to modernize all three legs of the triad included in the 2014 Quadrennial Defense Review should be manageable, National Defense Panel member and former Congressman Jim Marshall (D-Ga.) told NS&D Monitor this week on […]

  • Budget & Policy

    FY 2015 Defense Auth. Bill Boosts MOX, Directs Continued Construction

    Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 12/5/2014 Authorized funding for the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility in Fiscal Year 2015 would see a significant increase under the final version of the FY 2015 National Defense Authorization Act, unveiled this week. The bill would authorize a funding level of $345 million and would direct that the money be […]

  • Warhead & Weapons Development

    Work on Cruise Missile Warhead Accelerated in FY15 Defense Auth. Act

    FPU for Cruise Missile Warhead Required in 2025 According to Compromise Bill Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 12/5/2014 House and Senate authorizers have agreed to language in the recently completed compromise version of the Fiscal Year 2015 Defense Authorization Act that would require a First Production Unit be completed on a new air-launched nuclear cruise missile […]

  • Non-Proliferation

    NNSA Moving Forward With Reorganization of Office of Nonproliferation

    Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 12/5/2014 The National Nuclear Security Administration’s Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation is moving forward with a reorganization that would consolidate its sub-programs into four offices to reduce overlap between the programs and better align its efforts, NNSA nonproliferation chief Anne Harrington said at an all-hands meeting Dec. 2. Under the reorganization, […]

  • National Laboratories

    Former LANL Deputy Director Suspended from Gov’t Work

    Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 12/5/2014 Former Los Alamos National Laboratory Deputy Director Beth Sellers and her husband, Bill, have been suspended from doing work with the government and have been proposed for debarment, government records indicate. Sellers resigned as Los Alamos’ deputy director in March after an investigation by the Department of Energy’s Inspector General […]

  • Defense & Military

    Ash Carter Reportedly Tapped for Defense Secretary Nomination

    Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 12/5/2014 President Obama has tapped former Deputy Defense Secretary Ash Carter, a physicist who oversaw various aspects of U.S. nuclear weapons policy working under two administrations, as outgoing Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel’s successor, the White House said on Dec. 5. Hagel resigned on Nov. 24, 10 days after he announced he […]

  • Delivery Systems & Nuclear Triad

    Sea-Based Deterrence Fund Authorized in Final FY 2015 Defense Bill

    Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 12/5/2014 House lawmakers voted this week to approve a final version of the Fiscal Year 2015 National Defense Authorization Act, which would establish a $3.5 billion National Sea-Based Deterrence Fund. The Senate is expected to follow suit next week. One provision of the bill would authorize the Defense Secretary to shift […]

  • Defense & Military

    DoD Strategy Nominee Voices Support for Nuclear Modernization

    Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 12/5/2014 Robert Scher, the Obama Administration’s nominee for Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy, Plans and Capabilities, will attend a second confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee Dec. 8, after some senators requested additional time to ask questions after the first hearing this week. Next week’s hearing will fall […]

  • Contracts & Procurement

    After Acquisition and New Name, Security Firm Centerra Planning Expansion

    $135 Million Sale of G4S Gov’t Solutions to Private Equity Firm Completed Nov. 24 Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 12/5/2014 After being acquired by private equity firm Alvarez & Marsal Capital Security Holdings, security firm G4S Government Solutions has a new name, the Centerra Group, and new plans for expansion under its new owners, President and […]

  • Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile

    CBO Report Presents Options to Scale Back Modernization Plans

    Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 12/5/2014 A report recently released by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office last week states that a reduction of the planned nuclear ballistic missile submarine posture from 12 to eight, a delay of the start construction date of the Ohio-class replacement from Fiscal Year 2021 to FY 2025, and a deferral of […]

  • Budget & Policy

    GAO Highlights DOE/NNSA Cost Estimating Weaknesses

    Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 12/5/2014 Department of Energy and National Nuclear Security Administration projects continue to be plagued by cost estimating weaknesses, the Government Accountability Office said last week in a report that criticizes DOE/NNSA for not implementing best practices for cost estimating across the complex. Requirements for implementing best practices are inconsistent, the GAO […]

  • National Laboratories

    At Los Alamos

    Watchdog Groups Call for Major Fee Cut For Lab Contractor NS&D Monitor 12/5/2014 Two weapons complex watchdog groups are asking Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz to slash the Fiscal Year 2014 performance fee for Los Alamos National Laboratory contractor Los Alamos National Security because of the lab’s alleged role in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant radiological […]

  • Delivery Systems & Nuclear Triad

    Malmstrom Missileer to Be Court-Martialed on Drug Charges

    Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 12/5/2014 Malmstrom AFB has announced that the military will prosecute a missileer in connection with an unreleased criminal drug investigation by the Office of Special Investigations. 2nd Lt. Nicole Dalmazzi, of the 341st Missile Wing’s 12th Missile Squadron at Malmstrom AFB, is the first missileer the Air Force has said it […]

  • Non-Proliferation

    At Prague Agenda Conference, U.S. Official Announces Partnership With NTI

    Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 12/5/2014 The U.S. State Department is partnering with the Nuclear Threat Initiative to start an international nuclear forum to increase understanding among nuclear- and non-nuclear-weapon states of the technical problems of and solutions to verifying nuclear disarmament. Rose Gottemoeller, Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security, announced the International Partnership […]

  • Delivery Systems & Nuclear Triad

    Air Force Completes Final EIS for Powder River Training Complex

    Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 12/5/2014 The Nov. 28 release of a Final Environmental Impact Statement has activated a 30-day waiting period before Air Force officials will decide whether to expand the Powder River Training Complex (PRTC), currently used by B-52s housed at Minot AFB and B-1s housed at Ellsworth AFB. The PRTC currently spans approximately […]

  • National Laboratories

    At Sandia

    Rottler to Take Over as Deputy Lab Director in March NS&D Monitor 12/5/2014 Stephen Rottler, the head of Sandia National Laboratories’ California campus, is taking over as the lab’s new deputy director and executive vice president for National Security Programs. Rottler will replace longtime lab executive Jerry McDowell, who will retire in July, on March […]

  • Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile

    At Oak Ridge

    Mystery Material Sets Off Monitoring Alarms at Y-12 Beta-2E Facility NS&D Monitor 12/5/2014 For the first time in at least 15 years, a worker’s personal air monitor picked up an “action level” of an unidentified hazardous material used in a secret operation in a secret part of the Y-12 National Security Complex, according to a […]

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