NNSA BRINGING ON RET. USAF GEN. ALSTON TO REVIEW SECURE TRANSPORT

On the heels of his participation in a review of physical security across the weapons complex, retired Air Force Gen. Donald Alston is set to begin a review of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Office of Secure Transportation. The NNSA said Monday that it intends to negotiate a labor hour purchase order with Alston to perform an “independent and objective external assessment and comprehensive review” of the office that oversees the nuclear couriers tasked with transporting nuclear weapons, parts and materials around the country for the agency. Alston, who retired from the Air Force last year after serving as the Assistant Chief of Staff for Strategic Deterrence and Nuclear Integration and the commander of the 20th Air Force at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, will provide recommendations to “improve effectiveness of operations and organizational structure of OST” while developing an implementation plan for any proposed changes to the organization. The wide-ranging study will cover everything from the mission requirements for OST to management, training, internal communication, and its alignment within the NNSA’s Office of Defense Programs.

Alston is no stranger to security reviews for the Department of Energy. Along with two other senior officials, he was asked in the fall by Energy Secretary Steven Chu to conduct a review of DOE physical security in the wake of the Y-12 National Security Complex security breach in July. The NNSA said that Alston’s “responsibilities over a plethora of national security operations, nuclear weapons technology, strategic command decisions and strategic nuclear operations demonstrate a unique cache of managing nuclear operations and strategic decisions.” The agency said that he has the “unique capability and objectivity necessary to perform an external assessment and comprehensive review of OST.” The study charter suggests that there are no substantial concerns that prompted the assessment. “Instead, the extraordinary importance of the mission of this Office necessitates the exercise of corresponding diligence in its oversight,” the NNSA said in the study charter. “In addition, the incident at Y-12 demonstrates that we must not relax our vigilance, and further, that actions by unarmed protestors or other malicious acts can compromise our ability to carry out our mission and our institutional credibility. This External Assessment is thus designed to have outside experts put ‘fresh eyes’ on this organization and its operations in order to provide the greatest possible assurance of its continuing success and to provide recommendations for any changes that might further optimize its performance.”