Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

Proposed Budget Prioritizes Life Extension Program Work Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 2/2/2015 One year after delaying the cruise missile warhead life extension program, the Obama Administration is proposing to shift its approach in Fiscal Year 2016, accelerating work on the refurbishment effort and providing a significant funding boost for the program. The program, renamed the […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 1/30/2015 The Obama Administration is set to ask for a significant Fiscal Year 2016 budget increase for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s weapons program and relatively flat funding for its nonproliferation account, weapons complex observers and Congressional aides told NS&D Monitor this week. The Administration will unveil its FY 2016 budget […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 1/30/2015 Defense industry executives identified contracts that support the nuclear triad as significant revenue factors during Fourth Quarter Fiscal Year 2014 earnings announcements this week. During separate conference calls this week, Boeing and Lockheed Martin leadership expressed optimism about the future of the companies’ ongoing joint work on the classified long-range […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 1/30/2015 The Defense Department is budgeting $944 million for the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD) in the Future Years’ Defense Plan, and a Request for Information released Jan. 23 has generated interest from multiple possible suitors, as the Air Force strives to employ an affordable, more accurate intercontinental ballistic missile with new […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 1/30/2015 Amidst a crippling budget environment, the Navy will support its No. 1 priority, the Ohio-Class Replacement nuclear submarine and plans to spend $5 billion from Fiscal Years 2017 to 2020 in advanced procurement funding for the first submarine, Adm. Jonathan Greenert, Chief of Naval Operations, told the Senate Armed Services […]

NNSA, Livermore Moving Forward With Pu Shots on NIF Despite Activist Objections NS&D Monitor 1/30/2015 The National Nuclear Security Administration is not backing off a plan to use plutonium in shots at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s National Ignition Facility despite a last-minute appeal by activist groups to postpone the experiments. The first shots on the […]

Construction Begins on RLWTF-Upgrade Project NS&D Monitor 1/30/2015 Construction work has begun on the first phase of a project to replace the aging Radioactive Liquid Waste Treatment Facility at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Late last week, Los Alamos National Security, LLC, the managing contractor at the lab, issued a notice to proceed with construction […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 1/30/2015 A Los Alamos National Laboratory classification officer disclosed “sensitive, national security information” after misclassifying six documents, the Department of Energy’s Inspector General Office said in an apparent draft report released on the LLNL: The True Story blog this week. The undated draft report from Inspector General Gregory Friedman also revealed […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 1/30/2015 Los Alamos National Laboratory manager Los Alamos National Security, LLC, has a long list of issues to address as it looks to recover from its worst year since taking over management of the lab in 2006, and laboratory Director Charlie McMillan emphasized that the laboratory will take a measured approach […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 1/30/2015 National security agencies doing business with the National Nuclear Security Administration’s nuclear weapons laboratories should establish a “formally recognized” strategic partnership with the Department of Energy, a National Academy of Sciences panel said in a recently released report. The Committee on Assessment of the Governance Structure of the NNSA National […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 1/30/2015 National Nuclear Security Administration Production Office Manager Steve Erhart isn’t denying rumors that he could be leaving his post as the top federal official overseeing the Y-12 and Pantex plants, but he didn’t confirm anything either in a message to NPO employees last week. Erhart called the rumors “unsettling and […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 1/30/2015 Like the Navy, the Air Force has a large nuclear modernization bill looming, and the idea of a separate deterrence fund for upgrading the air legs of the nuclear triad is gaining traction, according to Global Strike Command chief Lt. Gen. Stephen Wilson. The Navy has proposed a sea-based deterrence […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 1/30/2015 The Congressional Long-Range Strike Caucus gathered on Capitol Hill on Jan. 27 to rally support for modernization of the B-52, B-2, and B-1 bombers, and for manufacturing the Long-Range Strike Bomber as Air Force experts have recently suggested that the Future Years Defense Plan indicates the LRSB is reaching the […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 1/30/2015 The United States should deploy nuclear weapons in eastern Europe as a response to increasing Russian aggression in Ukraine, two senior Republicans on the House Armed Services Committee said late last week in a letter to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Secretary of State John Kerry. Calling Russian suggestions that […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 1/30/2015 The U.S. should take a firm stance in insisting Russia comply with the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty and the Budapest Memorandum, former State Department and U.S. military officials said at separate Senate Armed Services Committee hearings exploring general U.S. national security strategy this week. The U.S. has formally accused […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 1/30/2015 In separate meetings regarding their companies’ planned merger on Jan. 27, Orbital stockholders voted to approve the merger while 97 percent of ATK stockholders voted in favor of issuing shares worth $0.01 each, to Orbital stockholders, ATK announced on Jan. 27. ATK is issuing approximately 77 percent of the total […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 1/30/2015 Oak Ridge National Laboratory has extended its American Centrifuge Technology Demonstration and Operations contract with Centrus Energy Corp. through Sept. 30. The $41.7 million deal was expected after the Fiscal Year 2015 omnibus spending bill included $97.2 million for domestic uranium enrichment research, development and demonstration. Under the agreement, Oak […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 1/30/2015 After repairs, all 17 work cages at Malmstrom AFB required for almost every maintenance task in Minuteman 3 facilities’ launch tubes became operational on Jan. 14, according to a Jan. 26 announcement by Malmstrom. Recently, a diminishing supply of replacement parts for the work cages—called guided missile maintenance platforms (GMMP)—and […]

Erhart: Moniz On Board With UPF Path Forward NS&D Monitor 1/30/2015 The revamped plan for designing and constructing the Uranium Processing Facility apparently has met with the approval of Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz. In a Jan. 21 message to employees at the National Nuclear Security Administration Production Office and contractors, NPO Manager Steve Erhart indicated […]

NS&D Monitor 1/30/2015 IN CONGRESS There will be a major shakeup on the staff of the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee with two of the top staffers on the panel leaving Capitol Hill for lobbying jobs. NS&D  Monitor has learned that Senate Majority Clerk Tom Craig and Senate Minority Staffer Leland Cogliani are leaving […]

Army Corps of Engineers Prepping for UPF Site Infrastructure and Services Work NS&D Monitor 1/23/2015 The Army Corps of Engineers began gearing up for the next phase of the Uranium Processing Facility project this week, releasing a presolicitation notice this week for site infrastructure and services on the multi-billion-dollar effort. The work, which would be […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 1/23/2015 The Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility project will not be impacted by the recent Russian decision to suspend cooperation with the United States on nuclear security work, National Nuclear Security Administration spokesman Derrick Robinson said this week. Russia informed the United States in December that it was cancelling all nuclear […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 1/23/2015 While five national lawmakers from the Dakotas reacted positively to the Air Force’s Jan. 16 approval of nearly quadrupling the size of the Powder River Training Complex (PRTC) used as a training area for B-52s housed at Minot AFB, N.D., and B-1s stationed at Ellsworth AFB, S.D., Sens. Jon Tester […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 1/23/2015 The Department of Justice is investigating whether officials with Sandia National Laboratories improperly used government funds to lobby for an extension to the Lockheed Martin-run contractor’s management and operating contract. The mention of the investigation was buried in the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Fiscal Year 2014 Performance Evaluation Review, released […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 1/23/2015 If the estimated $100 billion Ohio-Class nuclear submarine replacement program does not receive the funding it requires, the ship’s stealth capability could be among the first elements to get chopped from the program, according to Bryan Clark, Senior Fellow on the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessment’s Strategic Studies team. […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 1/23/2015 New House Armed Services Committee Chairman Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) said this week that he is opposed to one of the biggest recommendations made by the Congressional Advisory Panel on the Governance of the Nuclear Enterprise: moving the semi-autonomous National Nuclear Security Administration back under the Department of Energy. “I […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 1/23/2015 The Congressional Budget Office on Jan. 22 released its 10-year future nuclear weapons cost estimate, which projects the Obama Administration’s plans for nuclear forces would cost $348 billion from 2015 to 2024, down $7 billion from an estimate released a year ago. “Although the two estimates are close, notable changes […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 1/23/2015 National Nuclear Security Administration officials were highly critical of Los Alamos National Laboratory management in the lab’s recently released Fiscal Year 2014 Performance Evaluation Review, but had plenty of praise for the managers of the agency’s other physics laboratory, lauding Lawrence Livermore management for turning things around during the year. […]