Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 4/3/2015 White House nuclear energy official Joyce Connery and nuclear industry veteran Bruce Hamilton have emerged as the top candidates to fill the two vacant spots on the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, NS&D Monitor has learned. Connery, who most recently has served as the director of Nuclear Energy Policy for […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 4/3/2015 Questioning whether former Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Poneman complied with ethics guidelines and federal conflict-of-interest laws, lawmakers on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee this week launched a probe into Poneman’s recent appointment to CEO of Centrus Energy Corp. Earlier this month, the uranium enrichment firm, which under its […]

Mike Nartker NS&D Monitor 4/3/2015 As Babcock and Wilcox continues to move forward with plans to split into two businesses, additional details have emerged of the management structure intended for BWXT Technologies, which will consist of B&W’s nuclear operations, technical services, nuclear energy, and mPower businesses. Bill Fox will serve as President of the Technical […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 4/3/2015 Senior Air Force leaders met this week to discuss nuclear command and control (C2) and how it fits in with national command and control structure as part of an ongoing quarterly roundtable aimed at discussing issues in the nuclear enterprise, the service’s top enlisted official said during a breakfast speech […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 4/3/2015 Ending months of speculation among industry executives, the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center (AFNWC) reorganized on March 30, creating two new directorates in addition to its existing ICBM Systems Directorate (NI) in an effort to streamline communication, roles and responsibilities, and depart from a more diffuse previous structure, an AFNWC […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 4/3/2015 Gen. Robin Rand will move from his job as commander of Air Education and Training Command at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas, to command Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC) sometime this summer. He was confirmed by the Senate late last week. The assignment will boost AFGSC from a three- […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 4/3/2015 The Department of Energy’s national laboratories are “choking” on a “proliferation of duplicative and burdensome” requirements, according to a Secretary of Energy Advisory Board task force on lab management, which recommended in a recently released interim report that the Department streamline administrative constraints on the labs. The task force said […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 4/3/2015 After spiking in the fall, the size of U.S. and Russian nuclear stockpiles has dipped again, according to the latest New START Treaty data released by the State Department this week. The April 1 declaration revealed that the United States counted 1,597 strategic deployed warheads as of March 1, down […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 4/3/2015 Navy Strategic Systems Programs (SSP) awarded Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Training a not-to-exceed $59 million undefinitized sole-source contract action for Trident 2 D5 Navigation Subsystem Strategic Systems Program Shipboard Integration (SSI) Increment 4, Increment 8 Inertial and Non-Inertial efforts, according to a March 31 Defense Department announcement. The Navy […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 4/3/2015 Department of Energy security contractor Centerra Group recently purchased Gregg Protection Services in its first major acquisition after becoming a privately held company. Gregg Protection Services was founded in 1997 and provides safeguards and security, training and performance solutions, staff augmentation and vulnerability assessments. Its major customers include DOE and […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 4/3/2015 While five diplomats agreed during last week’s Carnegie Nuclear Policy Conference that the upcoming Review Conference (RevCon) of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty would be successful, Russia’s annexation of Crimea and officials’ nuclear rhetoric are presenting new challenges for diplomats, according to Jacek Bylica, Principal Adviser and Special Envoy for Non-Proliferation […]

NRC: No Issues on MOX Project During 2014 NS&D Monitor 4/3/2015 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has given the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility project a clean bill of health for the fifth straight year. In a report released last month, the NRC said it found no violations by MOX contractor CB&I AREVA MOX Services Inc. […]

NS&D Monitor 4/3/2015 IN THE INDUSTRY The consulting firm Longenecker & Associates has hired Martin Schneider as Vice President for Strategy and Business Development, effective April 16. Schneider last served as CEO for ExchangeMonitor Publications and Forum, a media and business intelligence firm focused on the environmental cleanup and nuclear security sectors. Prior to becoming […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 3/27/2015 The Air Force is building a team to look at the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent and how much of the intercontinental ballistic missile enterprise needs to be recapitalized, Lt. Gen. Mike Holmes, Deputy Chief of Staff for Strategic Plans and Requirements said this week. The review could have implications on force […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 3/27/2015 Since the Air Force on Jan. 8 announced Boeing the winner of the Minuteman 3 Guidance Subsystem contract under a newly established, government-managed contracting structure for intercontinental ballistic missiles, the company has been working to replace a 40-plus-year-old technology on the weapons that includes instrumentation for flight tests, command destruct, […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 3/27/2015 OGDEN, UTAH—Air Force nuclear missileers are maintaining a safe, secure and effective deterrent, but are doing so at a “diminished margin,” Dr. Jamie Morin, Director of Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation (CAPE) in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, said here at last week’s TRIAD forum. “That’s the most […]

NS&D Monitor 3/27/2015 IN THE INDUSTRY Three members of Babcock & Wilcox’s Board of Directors will be up for re-election at the company’s annual shareholder’s meeting May 1, B&W said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing late last week. The members up for reelection include Jan Bertsch, the executive vice president and chief financial […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 3/27/2015  The National Nuclear Security Administration will deliver a report to Congress on its response to the recommendations of the Congressional Advisory Panel on the Governance of the Nuclear Security Enterprise in three-to-four weeks, NNSA Administrator Frank Klotz told the House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee this week. The timeline represents […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 3/27/2015 The Air Force has programmed a plus-up of about $5.6 billion for its nuclear enterprise over the Future Years’ Defense Program (FYDP), some of which would presumptively fund the procurement of close to 100 long-range strike bombers, but the Budget Control Act (BCA) could force the service to reduce to […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 3/27/2015 The National Nuclear Security Administration is already reaping the benefits of consolidating the management and operating contracts at the Y-12 and Pantex nuclear weapons plants, having already saved $80 million, NNSA Principal Deputy Administrator Madelyn Creedon said in a response to a Government Accountability Office report that raised questions about […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 3/27/2015 OGDEN, UTAH – Collaboration between the Air Force ICBM System Program Office and Navy Strategic System Programs (SSP) looks promising, Michael Maglich, SSP Technical Director/Deputy Direct Reporting Program Manager, said last week here at the TRIAD conference. “I think we have a common forcing function, the budget, that we didn’t […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 3/27/2015 Another lawmaker raised concerns this week regarding former Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Poneman’s new position as CEO of Centrus Energy Corp., as Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) questioned Poneman’s potential influence on Department of Energy staff. Earlier this month the uranium enrichment firm, which under its previous name USEC received substantial […]

Todd Jacobson and Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 3/27/2015 Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) reintroduced parallel legislation this week in the House and Senate that would cut $100 billion in nuclear weapons spending over the next decade. The lawmakers have previously authored bills similar to the “Smarter Approach to Nuclear Expenditures (SANE) […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 3/27/2015 In the latest of a series of announced leadership shuffles in the Air Force’s Nuclear Enterprise, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter last week announced that President Obama has nominated Maj. Gen. Jack Weinstein, 20th Air Force commander, for promotion to the rank of lieutenant general and assignment as deputy chief of […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 3/27/2015 A White House official this week responded point by point to three Russian assertions that the U.S. has violated the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, while reiterating Washington’s goal to bring Russia back into compliance with the agreement. The U.S. publicly accused Russia in July of violating INF Treaty by […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 3/27/2015 Time is dwindling for the Obama Administration to make a push for Senate ratification of the Comprehensive Test-Ban Treaty, but Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Rose Gottemoeller said this week that she’s not giving up on one of the pillars of President Obama’s nuclear security […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 3/27/2015 New Mexico Sens. Tom Udall (D) and Martin Heinrich (D) introduced a bill this week to boost Laboratory Directed Research and Development programs at the Department of Energy’s national laboratories. The “LDRD Enhancement Act of 2015” would increase the percentage of lab funding that can be set aside for special […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 3/27/2015 Consolidated Nuclear Security is continuing to try to address employee concerns about benefit reductions at Y-12 and Pantex while trying to carry out its promise to reduce costs and bring the plants into compliance with Department of Energy orders. About 400 Pantex employees reportedly met with health care providers March […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 3/27/2015 The National Nuclear Security Administration released this week for the first time a comprehensive strategy for its nonproliferation work. Called Prevent, Counter, and Respond—A Strategic Plan to Reduce Global Nuclear Threats, the 124-page document provides an overview of NNSA’s plans for its recently reorganized nonproliferation account from Fiscal Year 2016 […]