Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

Brian Bradley  NS&D Monitor  6/26/2015 If existing nuclear forces are not modernized, the U.S. will lose its existing deterrent capabilities in the 2020s and 2030s, the Pentagon’s No. 2 official said Thursday. “The choice that we’re facing quite frankly…is not [between] keeping the existing force or modernizing the force,” Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work said Thursday […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 6/26/2015 The United States must ramp up spending on defense and nuclear weapons modernization to maintain technological superiority and counter increases in Russia’s defense budget and modernization efforts, according to Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Tex.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee (HASC). “They continue to crank out new nuclear warheads and […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 6/26/2015 The modernization of U.S. nuclear forces will require an increase in defense spending that surpasses Budget Control Act limits but will drop to current levels after the execution of certain modernization programs, according to a report preview released this week by the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. The CSBA […]

Brian Bradley  NS&D Monitor  6/26/2015 The long-range strike bomber will eventually replace all B-1s, B-2s and B-52s after it comes online, a senior Air Force official said Thursday. “Eventually, it will replace—it will be ‘the’ long-range strike bomber for us at a point,” Maj. Gen. Richard Clark, commander of the 8th Air Force, said during […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 6/26/2015 Navy Strategic System Programs and the Air Force intercontinental ballistic missile community should determine exactly what aspects of commonality the services will integrate between the Trident 2 life extension and Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent development efforts “now,” Navy Vice Adm. Terry Benedict, Director of Navy Strategic Systems Programs, said during a […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 6/26/2015 Integrating a smaller, shorter-range cruise missile into the both land-based and carrier-based dual-capable F-35s could help the U.S. offset a low global “nuclear threshold” inadvertently caused by U.S. conventional weapons superiority, according to a nuclear strategy and posture report released June 22 by the Center for Strategic and International Studies […]

Brian Bradley  NS&D Monitor  6/26/2015 Navy Strategic Systems Programs (SSP) on Wednesday announced it plans to award Charles Stark Draper Laboratories a sole-source special project alteration contract to provide the “effort and oversight” to procure the Trident 2 Life Extension production materials, according to a notice posted on Fed Biz Opps. Draper is the prime […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 6/26/2015 Sandia National Laboratories has selected Jill Hruby as its next president and director, the lab announced yesterday. Hruby, whose predecessor Paul Hommert is set to retire next month, will begin in her new position on July 17 following 32 years of technical and managerial work at the lab, according to […]

Y-12’s Continues to Experience Conduct of Operations Issues NS&D Monitor 6/19/2015 Conduct of operations has been a repeated and ongoing concern at the Y-12 National Security Complex and it appears that situation improved in recent months, based on numerous reports by staff of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board assigned to the Oak Ridge plant. […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 6/19/2015 U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM) hopes to advance the installation of its replacement for the Milstar satellite constellation, as reliability problems of the nuclear-survivable legacy system have slowed the follow-on’s procurement timeline, and as a Government Accountability Office report released this week revealed “known capability gaps” and deficiencies in the nation’s […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 6/19/2015 A sufficient level of funding for the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility project would top $1 billion per year, Department of Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz told South Carolina media this week. The Administration has emphasized increased costs in the MOX project since it first attempted to suspend the program in […]

Brian Bradley and Valerie Insinna NS&D Monitor 6/19/2015 The Senate passed its version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2016 yesterday, voting 71-25 to send the $612 billion legislation to conference after this week senators did not consider any amendments related to the nuclear enterprise. The 74 percent affirmative vote is […]

Industry Seeks More Clarity on Weapon System’s Capabilities and Procurement Timeline Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 6/19/2015 Military leaders of the nuclear enterprise are developing a Concept of Operations (CONOPS) to chart an innovative, 21st century concept for the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD) to replace the Cold War-era Minuteman 3, U.S. Strategic Command’s (STRATCOM’s) No. 2 […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 6/19/2015 The Department of Energy and National Nuclear Security Administration have agreed to perform a joint review requested by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board on safety issues at DOE nuclear facilities, according to a letter sent to the DNFSB last week by NNSA Administrator Frank Klotz. The DNFSB proposed in […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 6/19/2015 After years of negotiations on issues such as enrichment and reprocessing rights, the United States and the Republic of Korea signed a renewal of their ‘123 Agreement’ on civil nuclear cooperation this week. The agreement “would permit the transfer of material, equipment (including reactors), components, information, and technology for nuclear […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 6/19/2015 The National Nuclear Security Administration confirmed this week that it has lifted the “Code Blue” designation at the Pantex nuclear weapons plant, according to NNSA spokeswoman Shelley Laver. Laver said the Code Blue, which involved a “new hazard scenario” for the B61 and B80 weapons operations, was initiated on May […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 6/19/2015 The Energy Department on June 17 issued a Preliminary Notice of Violation (PNOV) to UT-Battelle, LLC, which could result in a more than $130,000 fine for violations of DOE worker safety and health regulations, according to a DOE press release. “DOE proposes civil penalty of $131,250 based on the safety […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 6/19/2015 Following the Babcock & Wilcox Company spin-off that will separate the power generation business unit from the rest of the company as of July 1, the newly renamed BWX Technologies shared the procurements and contract extensions it is focusing on in a presentation given during Investor and Analyst Day this […]

NS&D Monitor 6/12/2015 IN NNSA The National Nuclear Security Administration issued a three-month contract extension to Synergy Solutions, Inc., a company based in Oak Ridge, Tenn., “to continue personnel security and facility clearance programs support services,” according to an Award Notice issued this week. The contract is being extended “on a sole source basis” while […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 6/12/2015 Amid pressure from lawmakers and reports regarding the huge amount of excess facilities awaiting transfer to the Department of Energy’s cleanup program, a DOE working group on the issue expects to complete a comprehensive report by the end of the year, officials said this month. The Energy Secretary’s office formed […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 6/12/2015 House lawmakers voted this week against an amendment offered to the Fiscal Year 2016 defense appropriations bill that would have moved $25 million from an Air Force procurement account to the defense-wide research and development account to bolster U.S. military response options to respond to Russia’s alleged violation of the […]

Brian Bradley  NS&D Monitor  6/12/2015 Senate appropriators this week expressed concern about whether the Navy’s budget request for Fiscal Year 2016 accurately reflects the service’s most important priorities, including the Ohio-class Replacement (OR) Program. The Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday reported out its version of the FY 2016 defense spending bill, which does not include […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 6/12/2015 Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) this week blocked a proposed amendment to the Senate version of the Fiscal Year 2016 National Defense Authorization Act that would have prevented the Obama Administration from moving forward with a plan to accelerate dismantlement of retired nuclear weapons. Using a procedural move during floor debate […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 6/12/2015 Mirroring a House counterpart, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) this week submitted an amendment to the Senate version of the Fiscal Year 2016 National Defense Authorization Act that would prohibit using Defense Department funds to reduce the alert levels of U.S. intercontinental ballistic missiles. The language would lift the prohibition for […]

Brian Bradley  NS&D Monitor  6/12/2015 Lt. Gen. Stephen Wilson will assume the position of Deputy Commander of U.S. Strategic Command “at the end of July,” as current Deputy Commander Lt. Gen. James Kowalski retires, a STRATCOM spokesperson told NS&D Monitor. The nomination of Wilson, who has commanded Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC) since October 2013, was […]

Kenneth Fletcher  NS&D Monitor 6/12/2015 The National Nuclear Security Administration must better establish guidance for its contractor oversight using information from contractor assurance systems (CAS), according to a Government Accountability Office report released publicly this week. The NNSA asked its seven M&O contractors to implement the systems both to assure their own performance and to […]

Valerie Insinna Defense Daily  6/12/2015 The House on June 11 passed its $578.6 billion defense spending bill for fiscal year 2016, after members voted to eliminate a prohibition on transferring funds for the Ohio-class replacement submarine to the National Sea Based Deterrence Fund created last year by Congress. The House Armed Services Committee’s authorization bill recommended […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 6/12/2015 The Department of Energy’s Office of Enforcement plans to investigate Los Alamos National Security and National Security Technologies for “losses of contamination control of highly enriched uranium” at the Nevada National Security Site, according to two letters released this week. The incidents occurred at NNSS’s National Criticality Experiments Research Center […]