Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

Marc Selinger Defense Daily U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM) is streamlining its component structure by consolidating 18 component commands into four, the head of STRATCOM said July 26. Under the reorganization, one component command will be responsible for all air and missile capabilities, while the others will oversee maritime forces, missile defense and space, said Air Force […]

The Departments of Energy and Defense should better explain their 10-year nuclear deterrent modernization budget estimates and address future affordability concerns, the Government Accountability Office said in a newly released report. The GAO examined the DOD and DOE’s fiscal 2017 joint report, which places the total cost of the two Cabinet agencies’ nuclear modernization plans […]

Tom D’Agostino, former administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration, has joined the board of directors of small modular reactor company NuScale Power, the company announced Monday. D’Agostino, who served as head of the NNSA from 2007 to 2013, replaces former board member Dave Dunning, NuScale said in a press release. He has been with […]

The Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility being built in South Carolina is on its way to becoming a sticking point between the House and Senate as they work toward settling on a single energy and water funding bill for fiscal 2018. House appropriators remain intent on saving the controversial Department of Energy project, while their […]

Contractors that over a decade ago competed for the current management and operations contract at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico are not yet saying whether they intend to bid on the upcoming new prime contract at the site. The National Nuclear Security Administration last week released a draft request for proposals for […]

Marc Selinger Defense Daily Former Boeing executive Patrick Shanahan was sworn in as the 33rd deputy secretary of defense during an informal ceremony July 19, a day after the Senate voted, 92-7, to confirm him as the Pentagon’s second-ranking official. Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), ranking member on the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), endorsed Shanahan before the vote, […]

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) said Monday the United States should work to preserve the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty with Russia while taking concrete steps to develop military capabilities similar to those prohibited by the accord, as covered in the House and Senate versions of the fiscal 2018 National Defense Authorization Act. “For the time being, […]

Lockheed Martin Corp. on Tuesday announced net sales of $12.7 billion and net earnings from continuing operations of $942 million for the second quarter of 2017. Net sales increased on a year-over-year basis from $11.6 billion and net earnings from $899 million, while cash from operations remained steady at $1.5 billion. The company’s Space Systems […]

Energy Department contractor Honeywell on Friday reported 3 percent organic sales growth in the second quarter of 2017, with total net sales reaching $10.1 billion, up slightly from $10 billion during the same quarter of last year. The company reported a 10 percent year-over-year increase in earnings and earnings per share of $1.80 in the […]

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources has issued a final contingent hazardous waste permit modification for the Bannister Federal Complex in Kansas City, which was previously used for the manufacture of non-nuclear components for nuclear weapons. A 225-acre portion of the old complex is set to be transferred to a private developer and redeveloped for […]

Marc Selinger Defense Daily The Department of Defense plans to send a reprogramming request to Congress to ensure the Defense Innovation Unit Experimental (DIUx) does not run out of money for the rest of the current fiscal year, a top military officer said July 18. DOD, which has placed “tremendous demands” on DIUx, began developing […]

A trio of nuclear watchdogs on Thursday filed suit in federal court to force the Department of Energy to conduct a new environmental evaluation before building the Uranium Processing Facility (UPF) at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, claims the National Environmental […]

The Savannah River Site has conducted three tritium extractions in the current fiscal year, furthering the Department of Energy facility’s goal of providing the gas for the nation’s defense program. The DOE’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) announced Thursday that fiscal 2017 marks the first time the SRS Tritium Extraction Facility (TEF) has conducted […]

The House Appropriations Committee approved Wednesday its fiscal 2018 State Department funding bill, which would cut overall agency funding while making more modest changes to the accounts related to arms control and international security. The bill in total provides $47.4 billion for the State Department in discretionary and Overseas Contingency Operations funding – $10 billion […]

A group of senators on Wednesday encouraged the U.S. secretaries of state, defense, and energy to implement a set of actions in the ongoing Nuclear Posture Review process meant to increase transparency and reinforce national nuclear policy positions. In a July 19 letter, Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), and 20 of their colleagues, […]

The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration, along with technical experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency, China, and Ghana, last week finished converting Ghana’s GHARR-1 miniature neutron source reactor (MNSR) to run on low-enriched uranium fuel rather than highly enriched uranium. The NNSA said in a Wednesday announcement that this work, part of its effort to […]

Dan Parsons Defense Daily Efforts to slow modernization of the nuclear triad until the Defense Department completes a comprehensive study of the programs’ total cost largely failed to make it into the House version of the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act, which was approved Friday in a 344-81 vote. An amendment to the law that […]

The House of Representatives’ fiscal 2018 energy and water appropriations bill calls on the National Nuclear Security Administration to address lingering cost and schedule concerns in its modernization and infrastructure programs as it boosts agency funding by nearly $1 billion. The legislation, which on Wednesday passed the chamber’s Appropriations Committee and will next be considered […]

The House of Representatives is moving forward with plans to direct the Defense Department to begin work on an intermediate-range ground-launched missile despite pushback from the White House, striking amendments opposing the move from the fiscal 2018 National Defense Authorization Act it passed today in a 344-81 vote. The House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee […]

Two bid protests filed over the award of the management and operations contract for the Nevada National Security Site have been withdrawn, the National Nuclear Security Administration said Friday. Transition activities for the M&O contract awarded in May to Mission Support and Test Services LLC (MSTS) will therefore resume Aug. 1, according to the semiautonomous Department […]

Several nuclear-weapon states vowed not to support or sign a new nuclear weapon ban treaty after it was adopted by a United Nations conference last week. The U.N. conference on July 7 adopted its final text of the legally binding global prohibition on nuclear weapons following months of negotiations, with 122 nations voting in favor, […]

The House Appropriations Committee released Wednesday its fiscal 2018 funding bill for the State Department, featuring a more modest cut than the 30 percent decrease the administration proposed in its May budget request. The bill provides $47.4 billion for the State Department in discretionary and Overseas Contingency Operations funding, a $10 billion drop from its currently […]

Members of the House of Representatives have thrown early support in the latest budget process behind sustaining funding for the MOX project at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site, but their colleagues in the Senate are so far silent on whether they will also again back the controversial program. The House version of the fiscal 2018 […]

A June 26 letter from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board has provided new insight into safety design features for the Y-12 National Security Complex’s Uranium Processing Facility. Details regarding progress of the Tennessee facility have been something of a secret since the project was significantly reconfigured in 2014 to encompass a mix of new […]

The House of Representatives’ fiscal 2018 energy funding bill directs the National Nuclear Security Administration to address various legal and diplomatic hurdles in its proposed alternative plutonium disposition method before Congress considers funding the new approach and abandoning the MOX Fuel Fabrication Facility under construction in South Carolina. The House version of the energy and […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration has released a draft request for proposals for the next management and operations contract for its Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, while the facility takes steps to address a recent error in shipping special nuclear material, the latest in a series of safety and security issues that have plagued […]

The White House’s pick to lead the National Nuclear Security Administration will meet next week with Energy Secretary Rick Perry, who might still be pursuing other candidates for the job, sources told NS&D Monitor this week. Sources said late last month that Lisa Gordon-Hagerty is the White House’s choice to replace Obama administration holdover Frank […]

President Donald Trump has nominated Capitol Hill aide and Air Force veteran Matthew Donovan to be Air Force undersecretary. Donovan most recently was majority policy director for the Senate Armed Services Committee. He also worked for the committee’s airland and seapower subcommittees. During his 31 years in the Air Force, he led the Air Force […]