Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 7/31/2015 Expanding the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty to include countries in Europe and Asia will offset power imbalances and encourage Russia’s compliance, two experts said Monday at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). “Right now the INF Treaty issue is a diplomatic issue between the United States and […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 7/31/2015 The U.S. focus on extending the service life of the nation’s existing nuclear arsenal could threaten critical warhead design and development capabilities, John Harvey, former principal deputy assistant to the secretary of defense for nuclear, chemical, and biological defense programs, said on Tuesday. “In order to maintain critical capabilities, nuclear […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 7/31/2015 The Pentagon’s base funding account could require $500 billion above Budget Control Act (BCA)-permitted funding levels over eight years to comprehensively modernize U.S. nuclear forces and support other key missions, according to a recently released RAND study on national security. “Choices for America in a Turbulent World” outlines an average […]

Brian Bradley  NS&D Monitor  7/31/2015 LA VISTA, Neb.—Deterrence is not limited to nuclear weapons, but conventional arms and ballistic missile defense cannot substitute for the U.S. nuclear triad, a senior Defense Department official said here on Thursday. “Most of you have heard me say too many times that deterrence is not limited solely to nuclear […]

Brian Bradley  NS&D Monitor  7/31/2015 The Ohio-class Replacement (OR) was one of two main drivers for General Dynamics’ 5.5 percent revenue increase from the second quarter of fiscal 2014 to the second quarter of fiscal 2015, as sales rose from $7.5 billion to $7.9 billion, company officials said this week. GD CEO Phebe Novakovic said […]

Brian Bradley  NS&D Monitor  7/31/2015 Winning the Long Range Strike-Bomber contract would not change Northrop Grumman’s expectation of $700 million in capital expenditures for calendar year 2015, while losing the competition would have little effect on whether the company would acquire or be absorbed by another company, Northrop officials said on Wednesday during a company […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 7/31/2015 Los Alamos National Laboratory’s (LANL) proposition to credit pipe overpack containers (POC) with a damage ratio of zero at the Area G nuclear waste disposal site was found “inappropriate” and “not technically defensible” by personnel from the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Environmental […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 7/31/2015 Ten-year nuclear modernization budget estimates submitted in 2014 by the Department of Energy (DOE) and Department of Defense (DOD), although “generally consistent” with the agencies’ initiatives, omitted $1.6 billion for two DOE activities and lacked transparency in some DOD calculations, according to a Government Accountability Office report released yesterday. In […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 7/31/2015 New Mexico Tech (NMT) and New Mexico State University (NMSU) have formed a consortium that will bid on the management and operation contract for Sandia National Laboratories (SNL). Earlier this year the Department of Energy (DOE) issued a sources sought solicitation for SNL’s management and will award the contract following an […]

Brian Bradley  NS&D Monitor  7/31/2015 LA VISTA, Neb.— A senior NATO official on Wednesday here urged allies to steer the Western debate on nuclear arms away from its culture of “self-accusation,” which he said has weakened foreign confidence in U.S. extended deterrence and which he claimed was brought on, partly, by nuclear abolitionists who “hijacked” […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 7/31/2015 Former Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) employee Anthony Rivera filed a complaint to Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz earlier this month alleging that he had been fired after reporting hazards at the lab to management. Rivera told NS&D Monitor he was employed at the lab since 1984 and fired on […]

Brian Bradley  NS&D Monitor  7/31/2015 The Air Force plans to release a concept of operations (CONOPS) and a draft request for proposals for the estimated $62.3 billion Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD) as early as September, NS&D Monitor has learned. The service then in January is expected to award two parallel nonexclusive teaming contracts to carry […]

Valerie Insinna Defense Daily  7/31/2015 Adm. John Richardson, President Barack Obama’s nominee to become the next chief of naval operations (CNO), told senators yesterday that the planned design requirements for the Ohio-class Replacement submarines are “exactly what we need.” Speaking to the Senate Armed Services Committee during his confirmation hearing, he specifically cited the ship’s […]

Brian Bradley  NS&D Monitor  7/31/2015 On Tuesday, command of the Air Force Global Strike Command shifted from Lt. Gen. Stephen Wilson to Gen. Robin Rand, according to an Air Force press release, marking the first time the unit has become a four-star command. "Today is a great day to be an American airman and it’s […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 7/31/2015 The Y-12 nuclear weapons plant had 56 reported infractions related to nuclear criticality safety in Fiscal Year 2014, and the Oak Ridge plant received a rating of “meets expectations” in the annual review of nuclear criticality safety programs by the Department of Energy. The number of infractions was down from […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 07/31/15 As the July 30 deadline neared for public comment on the National Nuclear Security Administration’s draft environmental assessment for a new emergency operations center at the Y-12 National Security Complex, an activist group urged the agency to release more information and to merge the EA process with a supplement to […]

NS&D Monitor  7/31/2015 LANL Official Outlines Improvements Necessary for Proper Work Control Practices A Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) official has issued guidance on proper work control practices following several "poor work control practices" incidents, including the downing of a power line that led to a daylong pause in maintenance work, according to a June […]

NS&D Monitor  7/31/2015 IN THE INDUSTRY A former commander of Air Force Materiel Command, retired Gen. Janet Wolfenbarger, has been named to AECOM’s Board of Directors effective Aug. 1, according to an AECOM press release. “It is an honor to welcome General Wolfenbarger to our Board of Directors,” said AECOM Chairman and CEO Michael Burke. […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 7/24/2015 While the Los Alamos National Laboratory has addressed safety and quality assurance recommendations made in three reviews between 2010 and 2014, the lab has struggled to implement several safety requirements, resulting in lengthy program safety review and approval processes, according to an Energy Department Inspector General’s Office follow-up report released […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 7/24/2015 Command of the Air Force Global Strike Command will shift from Lt. Gen. Stephen Wilson to Gen. Robin Rand on July 28, ending Wilson’s nearly two-year tenure as commander of the service’s nuclear deterrence branch, command spokeswoman Carla Pampe confirmed to NS&D Monitor on Wednesday. The change of command will […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 7/24/2015 Los Alamos National Laboratory is working to restart Plutonium Facility operations by the end of fiscal 2016 after an already two-year hiatus, according to a letter, released Tuesday, from National Nuclear Security Administration chief Frank Klotz to the Energy Department Inspector General’s Office. Managing contractor Los Alamos National Security “has […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 7/24/2015 The Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center has awarded BAE Systems a $11.1 million contract modification, which will effectively extend the company’s role as integration support contractor (ISC) for the Minuteman 3 on to the ICBM’s planned follow-on, the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent, for at least one year, the Defense Department announced […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 7/24/2015 Sandia Corporation is required to pay a penalty of $577,500 for six classified information security violations, according to a July 13 Final Notice of Violation (FNOV) from the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) released last week. The violations, dating back to 1997 and discovered in 2012 at Sandia National Laboratories’ […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 7/24/2015 The Pantex Plant has implemented a new Nuclear Explosive Engineering Procedure and has resumed nuclear-explosive disassembly after an unexpected issue during a lifting operation forced workers to halt dismantlement activities on June 17, Pantex spokesman George Rangel confirmed to NS&D Monitor on Wednesday. A recently released Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 7/24/2015 Lockheed Martin Corporation, the incumbent in the management and operation contract competition for Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), responded to the Department of Energy’s (DOE) sources sought solicitation for SNL’s management following the current contract’s April 30, 2017 end date. In a statement to NS&D Monitor, Lockheed spokesman Matt Kramer confirmed […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 7/24/2015 Two Navy officials who faced allegations of lobbying for Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine replacement funding have been cleared of breaking the law by the Department of Defense Inspector General (DoD IG), according to statements from DoD IG and Navy spokespeople obtained by NS&D Monitor and sister publication Defense Daily this […]

Y-12 Protesters to be Resentenced on Sept. 15 Resentencing for the three Plowshares protesters who turned the nuclear security world upside down with their July 28, 2012, break-in at the Y-12 National Security Complex is set for Sept. 15. Sister Megan Rice, a Catholic nun who was 82 at the time of the protest action, […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 7/24/2015 The use of weapon-usable highly enriched uranium (HEU) for civilian applications worldwide is becoming a thing of the past despite political obstacles, according to Andrew Bieniawski, vice president of material security and minimization at the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) and a former National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) official. Bieniawski late […]