The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) in July sent a small delegation to Turkey to train the Turkish National Police to use radiation detectors, the agency said in a mid-August press release.
“The recently completed training with the Turkish National Police is an important step toward expanding our relationship with a key partner in a strategically significant region of the world,” David Huizenga, acting deputy administrator for the NNSA’s Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation branch, said in the release. “We look forward to continuing to work with the Turkish government to prevent nuclear and radiological smuggling.”
The NNSA’s efforts to “improve partner countries’ abilities to deter, detect, and investigate illicit trafficking” in nuclear materials is nested in the Global Material Security budget within Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation. The Trump administration, citing a large amount of unspent funding remaining from the 2017 appropriation, is seeking roughly an 8-percent cut for the Global Material Security budget for fiscal 2018, to just over $335 million.
A spending packaged approved by the House before the August recess would go even further, slashing Global Material Security by almost 20 percent to slightly more than$255 million. Within the total, the House would provide just over $100 million for Nuclear Smuggling Detection and Deterrence, rather than the roughly $145 million the White House requested. The request was about in line with the 2017 appropriation.
“Due to the delays in executing agreements with foreign nations, the NNSA has sufficient prior-year balances to support fiscal year 2018 needs” within Global Material Security, House lawmakers wrote in a detailed bill report that accompanied their spending package.
A bill approved last month by the Senate Appropriations Committee, on the other hand, would provide more than $355 million for Global Material Security for the budget year beginning Oct. 1, including the roughly $145 million for Nuclear Smuggling Detection and Deterrence the White House seeks.