Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor  5/1/2015 The National Nuclear Security Administration’s weapons program got a significant boost in the House version of the Fiscal Year 2016 National Defense Authorization Act cleared by the House Armed Services Committee this week as the bill authorizes $9.08 billion for the program, up from the $8.84 billion requested by the […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 5/1/2015 Even though the post-2021 budgetary landscape—as many nuclear modernization programs move from research-and-development to the production phase—will likely threaten investments in strategic deterrence, the United States should still follow plans to modernize the full nuclear weapon portfolio, a Senate appropriator told a Capitol Hill audience this week. “Will there be […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 5/1/2015 As the Air Force starts this month to remove 50 Minuteman 3 rocket boosters from silos—or launch facilities (LFs)—across all three intercontinental ballistic missile wings, the existing boosters will rotate among the LFs and empty silos will be upgraded but kept warm, according to Air Force Global Strike Command. AFGSC […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 5/1/2015 While analysts have suggested that the losing bidder for the Long Range Strike-Bomber program may exit the combat aircraft business or be a target for acquisition, the CEO for Northrop Grumman, one of the two bidders, appeared to downplay such concerns this week, saying a win would bring one more […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 5/1/2015 The Department of Energy issued late last week its implementation plan for last year’s Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board recommendation calling for strengthened emergency preparedness and response capabilities. The DNFSB recommendation was prompted in part by DOE’s response to the 2014 truck fire and radioactive material release at the Waste […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 5/1/2015 Navy Strategic Systems Programs last week announced it will contract with Charles Stark Draper Laboratories to ensure Trident 2 Guidance Systems are sustained throughout their lifecycle. The new contract will involve detailed analysis of all factory and fleet performance data and development of alternative technologies to mitigate product obsolescence. Draper […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 5/1/2015 Israel has shown support for ratifying the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, the leader of the primary organization concerned with banning global nuclear tests said this week. “Recently, I was in Israel. Last year, they told me that ratification of the CTBT is not ‘if,’ but ‘when,’ Lassina Zerbo, Executive Secretary of […]

More Mediation in Lab Age Discrimination Case Scheduled for Next Week NS&D Monitor 5/1/2015 Another round of mediation is scheduled next week between Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and lawyers for 130 laid off employees, but this time, the mediator will be different. The two sides have brought in mediator Jeff Ross to preside over the […]

NS&D Monitor 5/1/2015 IN THE WHITE HOUSE President Barack Obama submitted to the Senate this week the Protocol to the Treaty on a Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone in Central Asia, urging the Senate’s “early and favorable consideration.” Ratified by Kyrgyrzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan, the Central Asia Nuclear Weapon Free Zone (CANWFZ) is a legally binding […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 4/24/2015 Orbital ATK is continuing to collaborate with International Space Company Kosmotras—a joint project between Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan—on ideas for the sputtering Dnepr Program, which involves converting intercontinental ballistic missiles to space launch vehicles that carry iridium satellites into orbit. Ighor Uzhinsky, a senior employee for Orbital ATK’s Flight group, […]

Lab, Guards Union Agree to Extend Bargaining Talks by 60 Days NS&D Monitor 4/24/2015 Los Alamos National Laboratory and its protective force workers will have another two months to hash out a new collective bargaining agreement after the lab and union agreed to a 60-day extension to the labor deal late this week, NS&D Monitor […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 4/24/2015 Congress would increase oversight of the Long Range Strike-Bomber (LRSB) program if legislation reported to the full House Armed Services Committee this week makes its way into the Fiscal Year 2016 National Defense Authorization Act, and is approved afterward. The last section of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Seapower […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 4/24/2014 A Congressional hearing could be on tap on former Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Poneman’s new position as CEO of uranium enrichment firm Centrus Energy Corp., House Oversight and Government Reform Interior Subcommittee Chair Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) said this week. The House panel launched a probe in late March questioning whether […]

Mike Nartker NS&D Monitor 4/24/2015 House lawmakers are pushing for all of the members of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board to have a greater say in senior staffing decisions. Language in the House version of the Fiscal Year 2016 National Defense Authorization Act, reported out of subcommittee this week, would require the DNFSB Chairman […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 4/24/2015 The newly redesigned Uranium Processing Facility might be in jeopardy of breaching its $6.5 billion cost cap, according to the report accompanying the House version of the Fiscal Year 2016 Energy and Water Appropriations Act cleared by the House Appropriations Committee this week. House appropriators fully funded the Administration’s $430 […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor  4/24/2015 In what amounts to a partial endorsement of the recommendations of the Congressionally mandated National Nuclear Security Administration governance panel, the House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee this week unveiled legislation that would create a DOE/NNSA panel to establish an implementation plan for reforming the management of NNSA and improving […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 4/24/2015 It could cost nearly $52 billion to complete the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility and run it while downblending and disposing of surplus weapons-grade plutonium would be a significantly cheaper approach, according to a recently completed study by The Aerospace Corporation that drew immediate criticism from South Carolina’s Congressional delegation […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 4/24/2015 Air Force Global Strike Command plans to start in May removing 50 Minuteman 3 boosters from launch facilities across the missile fleet in compliance with the New START Treaty, though it is unclear if and how, exactly, that will impact procurement of the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD). AFGSC Commander Lt. […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 4/24/2015 The Air Force plans to release an RFP for re-engining the B-52 this summer, and is planning to convert some of the planes to tankers, a top service official said this week. “We think we’ll have some data to be able to go forward this summer” with an RFP, Lt. […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 4/24/2015 A National Nuclear Security Administration program to install radiation detection equipment at borders, airports and seaports around the world would take a big hit under a provision in the House version of the Fiscal Year 2016 National Defense Authorization Act, unveiled this week. The House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 4/24/2015 Consolidated Nuclear Security, the Bechtel-led team that took over management of the Y-12 and Pantex nuclear weapons plants last year, is saving approximately $2 million a week under its cost-savings plan, according to Richard Goffi, the Booz Allen Hamilton vice president helping to head up transformation activities for the CNS […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor  4/24/2015 House appropriators are concerned that a heavy workload on the National Nuclear Security Administration’s weapons program could endanger the agency’s modernization efforts. In the report accompanying the House version of the Fiscal Year 2016 Energy and Water Appropriations Act, House appropriators said they were worried that the “aggressive” schedule for […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 4/24/2015 The House Armed Services Seapower & Projection Forces Subcommittee markup of the Fiscal Year 2016 National Defense Authorization Act authorizes the transfer of $1.4 billion into the Sea-Based Deterrence Fund from Navy research and development funds, expands the transfer authority for the Fund from the Navy to the Defense Department, […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 4/24/2015 President Barack Obama would be required to begin research and development of counter-force and countervailing U.S. responses to Russia’s reported violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty of 1987, if Moscow does not become treaty-compliant before the enactment of the Fiscal Year 2016 National Defense Authorization Act. That’s according to […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 4/24/2015 The Nuclear Enterprise reviews completed last year showed that the triad is running at a $9 to $25 billion recapitalization and sustainment deficit—not including bombers and ballistic missile submarines—a shortfall that will take “years” to fix, a top National Nuclear Security Administration official told Senators April 22. “We did not […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 4/24/2015 House lawmakers are asking the Department of Energy for a plan to transfer excess facilities held by the National Nuclear Security Administration to the Office of Environmental Management for cleanup. Both House authorizers and appropriators have asked for reports from DOE for moving NNSA buildings to the cleanup program. The […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 4/24/2015 House appropriators cut in half the Obama Administration’s $100 million Fiscal Year 2016 request for work to sustain the American Centrifuge uranium enrichment technology, but provided reprogramming authority to the National Nuclear Security Administration for the rest of the funding in their version of the FY 2016 Energy and Water […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 4/24/2015 The 2015 Review Conference (RevCon) for the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty starts on Monday at UN Headquarters in New York, and treaty advocates expect disarmament and a WMD-free zone in the Middle East to dominate discussions this year. “On nuclear disarmament, I think there’s a lot of expectation that there’ll be […]