Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 2/13/2015 The National Nuclear Security Administration and the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management contract management will remain on the Government Accountability Office’s High-Risk List for another two years, the government watchdog agency announced this week. GAO unveiled its list two years after it partially removed the agencies from its […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 2/13/2015 The Air Force is extending by 21 days the response deadline for a Request for Proposals the service released on Jan. 13 for Reentry Field Support Equipment (RFSE) to support testing and maintenance of Minuteman 3 reentry vehicles, according to a Feb. 9 announcement. Interested contractors must now submit proposals […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 2/13/2015 Naval Sea Systems Command, Strategic Systems Programs and Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command are seeking input “for potential small business sources” to provide maintenance and technical engineering services in support of the Data Processing Subsystem (DPS) Program, Command and Control System (CCS) and Non-Propulsion Electronics System (NPES) of the […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 2/13/2015 General Dynamics this week reported a $1.4 billion backlog for engineering services for design and development of the Ohio-Class Replacement submarine at the year-end of 2014, representing about 4.5 percent of total backlog reported for GD’s Marine Systems group at the end of 2014, according to the company’s 10-K filing. […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 2/13/2015 A joint statement issued by from participants of the P5 Conference in London last week reaffirming “a step-by-step approach to nuclear disarmament that promotes international stability, peace and undiminished and increased security for all” as the only realistic disarmament mechanism has prompted at least one disarmament advocate to ask for […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 2/13/2015 Navy Strategic Systems Programs awarded Charles Stark Draper Laboratory a maximum amount $302.4 million sole-source, firm-fixed-price, fixed-price-incentive and cost-plus-incentive-fee contract for ongoing work of the Trident D5 MK 6 Guidance System Repair Program with failure verification, test, repair and recertification of inertial measurement units, electronic assemblies and electronic modules, according […]

CNS, Union Agree to Extend Contract Talks NS&D Monitor 2/13/2015 The Metal Trades Council and Pantex contractor Consolidated Nuclear Security have agreed to continue talks past a Feb. 16 deadline when the union’s contract was set to expire, but both sides aren’t talking about issues involved in the discussions. “Consolidated Nuclear Security and the Metal […]

NS&D Monitor 2/13/2015 IN CONGRESS Former Naval Reactors Government Affairs director Adam DeMella is joining the majority staff of the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee where his portfolio will include the National Nuclear Security Administration, NS&D Monitor has learned. DeMella headed up Naval Reactor’s government affairs shop from 2001 until December. DeMella will assume […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 2/6/2015 Coupled with a tight funding environment, the Navy’s Feb. 2 release of its Fiscal Year 2016 budget request, which contains $10 billion in programmed funding over the Future Years’ Defense Program for research and development and advanced procurement of the Ohio-Class Replacement Program (ORP), has raised questions about whether the […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 2/6/2015 Defense Secretary nominee Ashton Carter this week stated the Ohio-Class Replacement will “present unique constraints” on the Navy’s shipbuilding plan, especially if the Defense Department is required to be funded at Budget Control Act of 2011 levels. Should the funding caps return, Carter said he would meet with the Navy […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 2/6/2015 Without budgetary relief, planned upgrades to the aging nuclear command and control (NC2) system could suffer. The Air Force’s Fiscal Year 2016 budget request includes $287 million for modernization of the NC2 architecture, about $147 million more than the FY 2015-enacted amount. With the 2011 Budget Control Act (BCA) caps […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 2/6/2015 The Defense Department is looking to accelerate work on the new long-range standoff weapon, according to the Pentagon’s Fiscal Year 2016 budget request, released earlier this week. While the Air Force was expected to issue a Request for Proposals in the first quarter of FY 2017, an RFP for the […]

Latest in a Series of Assessments Raising Culture, Morale, Concerns Within Board Mike Nartker NS&D Monitor 2/6/2015 A “divisive and dysfunctional relationship” among the members of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board appears to be playing a significant role in the poor morale plaguing the DNFSB staff, according to a new independent report released late […]

NS&D Monitor 2/6/2015 IN CONGRESS Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.) has been named the vice chairman of the House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee, committee Chairman Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) said yesterday. The committee has not operated with vice chairmen for its subcommittees in recent years, but Thornberry said an unprecedented strategic environment necessitated strengthening the […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 2/6/2015 The Navy is continuing to accelerate the pace of returning W76-0 warheads to the National Nuclear Security Administration for storage and plans to be finished shipping the warheads back to the agency by FY 2016, the NNSA said this week. Fiscal Year 2016 budget documents released this week revealed work […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 2/6/2015 The Department of Energy’s Office of Enforcement is investigating an accident at the Office of Secure Transportation’s Vehicle Maintenance Facility in Oak Ridge that led to the partial amputation of an employee’s finger. The investigation was disclosed in a letter Office of Enforcement Director Steven Simonson sent on Jan. 30, […]

Cracks in Concrete at HEUMF Being Monitored by Y-12 Officials NS&D Monitor 2/6/2015 Cracks in the Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility apparently haven’t worsened—at least not significantly—over the past year-and-a-half, but studies are still underway to determine how to address the situation at the Y-12 facility that houses the nation’s principal supply of bomb-grade uranium. […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 2/6/2015 NATO’s allied defense ministers this week formulated a “Readiness Action Plan” and released a related joint statement which indicates a growing emphasis on allied strategic forces in Europe. The decision comes at a time of continued Russian occupation of Eastern Ukraine, existing bilateral tensions over the annexation of Crimea, Russian […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 2/6/2015 Budgetary pressure in GOP-controlled Congress could force tough decisions on President Obama’s $12.6 billion request for the National Nuclear Security Administration, including on funding for the Uranium Processing Facility, the top Republican on the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee suggested this week. The Obama Administration requested $430 million for […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 2/6/2015 The Obama Administration is moving forward with a new strategy to maintain the plutonium capabilities at Los Alamos National Laboratory, requesting $155.6 million for the work in Fiscal Year 2016, an increase of $119.9 million from FY 2015 enacted levels. The project has emerged from the ashes of the Chemistry […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 2/6/2015 The National Nuclear Security Administration downplayed this week a report by the Project on Government Oversight that raised concerns about Administrator Frank Klotz’s prior work for Department of Energy contractor Bechtel, noting that Klotz followed government guidelines in disclosing his previous work and saying his decision-making has been unaffected by […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 2/6/2015 The Obama Administration is seeking $77.1 million in Fiscal Year 2016 for an apparent new classified Air Force facility overseas for the Long-Range Strike Bomber, according to budget documents released this week. The facility is described in the budget request only as “worldwide classified.” Like many other elements of the […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 2/6/2015 The Obama Administration’s decision this week to continue with construction on the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility at the Savannah River Site in Fiscal Year 2016 was met with praise from Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), who was among the lawmakers that fought against the Administration’s decision to put the project […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 2/2/2015 Outlining the Air Force’s proposed Fiscal Year 2016 budget today, Maj. Gen. James Martin, Air Force Assistant Secretary for Budget, warned that elements of the nuclear enterprise could be jeopardized by sequestration. The Air Force’s budget request includes $272 million for the B-2 defensive management system, up $98.8 million from […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 2/2/2015 The Obama Administration is requesting $430 million for the Uranium Processing Facility planned for the Y-12 National Security Complex in Fiscal Year 2016, preserving the planned funding profile of the multi-billion-dollar facility thanks to a decision last year to shift the project from one “big box” facility to several smaller […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 2/2/2015 The Obama Administration is requesting $1.4 billion in Fiscal Year 2016 for the Ohio-Class Replacement program, a project that officials say the Navy plans to fund out of its own account from Fiscal Year 2016 to FY 2020, and that will take about two-thirds of the service’s shipbuilding budget if […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 2/2/2015 The Obama Administration was widely criticized last year by arms control and disarmament experts for seeking to cut the National Nuclear Security Administration’s nonproliferation budget, but the Administration is looking to now stabilize funding for the NNSA’s nonproliferation account in its Fiscal Year 2016 request, released today, asking for $1.94 […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 2/2/2015 The Obama Administration is requesting $345 million in Fiscal Year 2016 for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility in what Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz has called a “continuation” budget for the controversial project. The request, unveiled today, matches the amount of money Congress provided to keep […]