Amid an administration change, government layoffs and a lapse in funding that led to the longest government shutdown in history, here were the top stories in 2025 involving nuclear deterrence and the National Nuclear Security Administration.
To kick off the year in January, shortly after the conclusion of now-Energy Secretary Chris Wright’s Senate confirmation hearing he told the Exchange Monitor Brandon Williams was his and then newly-inaugurated President Donald Trump’s pick to run the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). NNSA is the Department of Energy’s semi-autonomous agency in charge of maintaining the nation’s nuclear stockpile. Wright himself then advanced out of committee and was confirmed shortly after his hearing with the support of 59 Senators. Williams, however, sat on the bench for months even after being passed out of committee. He was not sworn in until September in an en bloc package of nominations.
Also shortly after Trump’s inauguration, in an attempt to shrink the government workforce the Office of Personnel Management sent a memo dubbed “Fork in the Road” wherein federal employees, including those working for nuclear agencies, could submit deferred resignations and retain pay and benefits until Sept. 30. The memo said these workers would be exempt from layoffs, a foreshadowing of a round of Valentine’s Day layoffs courtesy of the Department of Government Efficiency. Those layoffs were quickly reversed less than 72 hours later, with the exception of 28 employees, but lawmakers are still demanding answers on the details of the layoffs, as well as details on supposed cuts to funds.
One of the big questions of the year is whether the Northrop Grumman-developed Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), which will eventually replace the current Boeing Minuteman III ICBM, will need new siloes given the much larger size and tilt of the Sentinel missile. Then-head of the Air Force Global Strike Command Gen. Thomas Bussiere told the Exchange Monitor in late February it was something the service was looking into.
In terms of warhead milestones, just four months after the completion of the last production unit for the B61-12 gravity bomb at the end of last year, the first production unit of the B61-13 gravity bomb was completed in May nearly a year ahead of schedule at NNSA’s Pantex Plant in Texas. NNSA also completed the last production unit of the W88 Alteration 370, a warhead to modernize the W88 that tops the submarine-launched ballistic missiles, in December. NNSA said it can now focus on the nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missile and W93 warhead programs, with first production unit milestones forecast for the early to mid-2030s.
Plutonium pit production also saw its fair share of shakeups. On the heels of a federal judge’s ruling in the fall of 2024, DOE and NNSA began a two-year, nation-wide environmental impact statement, or review, compliant with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). This review must be complete before it can incorporate the Savannah River Site in South Carolina into its planned pit production facilities.
That said, the House just passed the Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development Act (SPEED Act) Dec. 18. If signed into law, the bill would overhaul NEPA and simplify the environmental review process. Supporters such as Secretary Wright expect the SPEED Act will shorten the environmental review on large-scale production of the fissile cores that center a nuclear weapon.
In another obstacle for pit production, in August Deputy Secretary of Energy James Danly sent a letter to NNSA ordering a study on the efficiency of pit production processes. While the status of this study has not been made known, lawmakers including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.) recently wrote Secretary Wright in support of the study. The Democrats called pit production “taxpayer waste” with unrealistic expectations.
Over the summer, in the controversial One Bill Beautiful Bill, Trump made $150 billion in reconciliation funds available for defense purposes from fiscal 2025 to the end of fiscal 2029. For NNSA, this bill included $200 million to conduct studies on the life cycle of the nuclear weapon, $540 million to address deferred maintenance and repair needs, $1 billion to accelerate construction of facilities, $120 million for domestic uranium enrichment centrifuge deployment for defense purposes, and $400 million for the development of the warhead for the nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missile (SLCM-N). The bill also included funding for the nuclear triad under DoD funding.
In September, Russian president Vladimir Putin placed a one-year extension of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) on the table if the U.S. does the same. The expiration of this nuclear reduction treaty on Feb. 5, 2026 has many in the national security space holding their breath.
Also in September, the government shut down for 43 days due to a lapse in funding after Congress could not agree on a budget, and the NNSA, in an unprecedented move, furloughed 80% of its workforce in the weeks after that. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.), chair of the House Appropriations Energy and Water subcommittee whose district abuts Y-12 National Security Complex and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, told the Exchange Monitor most DOE and NNSA contractors had “sufficient reserves to weather” the shutdown without having to furlough employees.
During the shutdown, in a move causing much confusion, Trump posted on Truth Social that the United States would test nuclear weapons “on an equal basis” with other countries. While Secretary Wright said he figured Trump did not mean a “mushroom cloud” in the Nevada desert, Trump did not clarify in a 60 Minutes interview just days later.
Another big question under the second Trump administration was his thoughts on AUKUS, the trilateral agreement between the U.S., U.K. and Australia that includes the future sale of Virginia-class nuclear-powered attack submarines to Australia. A review of AUKUS instigated by the Pentagon was what even Republican Senator and chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee Roger Wicker (Miss.) called “a surprise to this committee, to the Congress and to the general public, and as a distressing surprise to our steadfast ally, Australia.” But the review was completed in December, and Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell confirmed all three countries should move “full steam ahead” with AUKUS.
To cap the year off, before hustling back home for the holidays Congress passed the annual authorization bill, the fiscal 2026 National Defense Authorization Act, with the highest spending cap yet for NNSA at nearly $26 billion and a protection for NNSA workers from DOGE. Trump signed the measure and it is now law.
In the new year, the nuclear enterprise can expect a conference of the Energy and Water Appropriations Bill by late January, according to Fleischmann who is the top House appropriator for the bill. The result of the longest government shutdown in history was a stopgap spending measure that would extend government funding until Jan. 30, giving Congress until then to pass their appropriations packages.
While the Senate still has not brought its Energy and Water appropriations bill to even a subcommittee level, a controversial topic in the Energy and Water bill in the House is the nonproliferation number. Lawmakers including Garamendi and Energy and Water member Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) mourned how low they felt the number was, and former NNSA Nuclear Nonproliferation head warned that in the wake of the nuclear rift with Iran, cutting nonproliferation funding would be a “lose-lose.”