Charles Verdon will get his confirmation hearing in the Senate Thursday morning, about two-and-a-half months after the White House nominated the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory hand to lead the National Nuclear Security Administration’s $10-plus-billion-a-year nuclear weapons branch.
The White House nominated Verdon Feb. 27 and the Senate Armed Services Committee is set to consider the nomination Thursday morning in Washington. Verdon is scheduled to testify alongside four other nominees at 9:30 a.m. Eastern time.
If approved by the committee and subsequently confirmed on the Senate floor, Verdon will become the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) deputy assistant administrator for defense programs. Verdon would fill a vacancy left by Philip Calbos, the office’s current No. 2. Calbos was the acting deputy administrator for part of 2017 but had to step aside because of federal laws that limit the time interim agency heads may serve in positions that require Senate confirmation.
Verdon, a Ph.D nuclear engineer, is now principal associate director at Livermore’s weapons and complex integration directorate, in charge of the lab’s weapons activities. Livermore designs warheads and runs experiments to help ensure warhead potency without resorting to nuclear detonations.
NNSA’s defense programs division manages the agency’s nuclear weapons programs, include warhead life-extension programs.
