March 17, 2014

NNSA SECURE TRANSPORT OFFICIAL DIES FROM INJURIES AFTER CAR CRASH

By ExchangeMonitor

Senior National Nuclear Security Administration official Brad Peterson, who most recently served as the deputy chief of the agency’s Office of Secure Transportation, died yesterday due to injuries sustained in a serious car accident in Albuquerque, N.M., on Saturday. He was 53. Peterson was a passenger in a car that was struck by a speeding vehicle while making a left-hand turn onto a six-lane divided highway in Albuquerque, and he was transported to University of New Mexico Hospital with severe injuries. Peterson served for three years as the NNSA’s chief of Defense Nuclear Security and Associate Administrator for Defense Nuclear Security until moving to OST last summer. The other car involved in the accident was believed to be speeding, according to a police report describing the incident.

In a statement sent to NNSA employees yesterday, NNSA Administrator Tom D’Agostino called Peterson a “wonderful friend, stellar shipmate, and devoted public servant.” D’Agostino and Peterson were classmates at the Naval Academy and later served together in the Navy’s submarine force. “As Chief, Defense Nuclear Security and Associate Administrator for Defense Nuclear Security, Brad was the driving force in our efforts to reengineer the nuclear security program within the NNSA,” D’Agostino said. “His focus on identifying and implementing fundamental security reforms resulted in the development of new peer review approaches and the implementation of deliberate and defendable processes to assess the threat, evaluate plausible scenarios, and create strategies to ensure the security of our Nation’s most sensitive nuclear assets. He was a reform-minded leader, and helped transform NNSA into the 21st century, integrated organization it is today.”

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