Former nuclear-weapons hand James Peery has been appointed chief scientist of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Global Security Directorate, the Department of Energy facility in Tennessee announced Monday.
Peery, whose career has included stops at the Sandia and Los Alamos national laboratories in New Mexico, will work primarily on cybersecurity efforts to protect the U.S. electric grid, according to an Oak Ridge press release.
Peery was most recently vice president of defense systems and assessments at Sandia: a position he held from 2015 until his recently announced move east.
Peery has previously worked on Energy Department nuclear programs, including as principal deputy associate director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory’s nuclear weapons program. He spent about five years at Los Alamos, departing in 2007 to return to Sandia, where he began his career in 1990.
