Vol. 25, No. 14 
No Nuclear Spending Proposal in White House Skinny Budget; Posture Review Ongoing
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Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
COVID Transmission Appears to Slow Across NNSA Complex as Vaccination Numbers Jump
The National Nuclear Security Administration reported just over 40 new confirmed positive cases of COVID-19 this week, a rate of growth that’s on the low end of the weekly average for the past eight weeks. It was around that time, in late February, when new confirmed cases among civil servants and contractors across the nuclear […]
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Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
Round of Promotions, Retirements Among NNSA Civil Servants
There are three new federal field office managers and one new deputy field office manager across the National Nuclear Security Administration’s nuclear security enterprise, according to a recent dear-colleagues letter from acting agency administrator Charles Verdon. Also, Verdon said, two longtime civil servants will retire from National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) headquarters in Washington at […]
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Warhead & Weapons Development
Russia Added 100+ Warheads Under New START in Last Year
Russia has over 100 more strategic nuclear warheads deployed than it had at this time last year, according to the latest data shared by the State Department from the recently renewed New START Nuclear Arms Control Treaty. On Feb. 3, the U.S. and Russia officially extended New START until Feb. 5, 2026. The Joe Biden […]
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Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
Max Telework Continues at DNFSB With No Immediate Plans for Office Return
Like so many other federal workplaces during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board continues to have most of its staff working from home, according to the agency’s Annual Report to Congress. “The Board has proven its effectiveness while in maximum telework posture, despite the unexpected challenges of adapting work practices to remote work […]
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Delivery Systems & Nuclear Triad
Northrop Sets GBSD Baseline; Doesn’t Divulge Details
The prime contractor for the Ground Based Strategic Deterrence wrapped up a key review for the program and set a cost and schedule baseline for the Air Force’s next-generation, nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile. Northrop Grumman, which holds a $13 billion Air Force engineering and manufacturing development contract to build the first tranche of Ground Based […]
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Non-Proliferation
Arms Control, Modernization Consensus Gone, Modernization Architect Says
Last decade’s bipartisan consensus, that arms-control diplomacy and the refurbishment of the nuclear arsenal should walk hand-in-hand, does not exist anymore, according to a former Republican Senator who helped forge the consensus. “Right now, we do not have the consensus that ostensibly existed back in 2010,” former Sen. John Kyl (R-Ariz.) said this week during […]
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Plutonium Pit Production
Round Up: Pit Reviews Being Reviewed; Y-12 Perimeter; Defense Board Personnel; More
National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) headquarters is reviewing critical decision one packages for the planned pit production facilities at the Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Savannah River Site, an agency spokesperson wrote in an email this week to Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor. Both sites turned in the critical decision 1 packages “on schedule,” […]