Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 12/5/2014 President Obama has tapped former Deputy Defense Secretary Ash Carter, a physicist who oversaw various aspects of U.S. nuclear weapons policy working under two administrations, as outgoing Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel’s successor, the White House said on Dec. 5. Hagel resigned on Nov. 24, 10 days after he announced he […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 12/5/2014 House lawmakers voted this week to approve a final version of the Fiscal Year 2015 National Defense Authorization Act, which would establish a $3.5 billion National Sea-Based Deterrence Fund. The Senate is expected to follow suit next week. One provision of the bill would authorize the Defense Secretary to shift […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 12/5/2014 Robert Scher, the Obama Administration’s nominee for Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy, Plans and Capabilities, will attend a second confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee Dec. 8, after some senators requested additional time to ask questions after the first hearing this week. Next week’s hearing will fall […]

$135 Million Sale of G4S Gov’t Solutions to Private Equity Firm Completed Nov. 24 Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 12/5/2014 After being acquired by private equity firm Alvarez & Marsal Capital Security Holdings, security firm G4S Government Solutions has a new name, the Centerra Group, and new plans for expansion under its new owners, President and […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 12/5/2014 A report recently released by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office last week states that a reduction of the planned nuclear ballistic missile submarine posture from 12 to eight, a delay of the start construction date of the Ohio-class replacement from Fiscal Year 2021 to FY 2025, and a deferral of […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 12/5/2014 Department of Energy and National Nuclear Security Administration projects continue to be plagued by cost estimating weaknesses, the Government Accountability Office said last week in a report that criticizes DOE/NNSA for not implementing best practices for cost estimating across the complex. Requirements for implementing best practices are inconsistent, the GAO […]

Watchdog Groups Call for Major Fee Cut For Lab Contractor NS&D Monitor 12/5/2014 Two weapons complex watchdog groups are asking Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz to slash the Fiscal Year 2014 performance fee for Los Alamos National Laboratory contractor Los Alamos National Security because of the lab’s alleged role in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant radiological […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 12/5/2014 Malmstrom AFB has announced that the military will prosecute a missileer in connection with an unreleased criminal drug investigation by the Office of Special Investigations. 2nd Lt. Nicole Dalmazzi, of the 341st Missile Wing’s 12th Missile Squadron at Malmstrom AFB, is the first missileer the Air Force has said it […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 12/5/2014 The U.S. State Department is partnering with the Nuclear Threat Initiative to start an international nuclear forum to increase understanding among nuclear- and non-nuclear-weapon states of the technical problems of and solutions to verifying nuclear disarmament. Rose Gottemoeller, Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security, announced the International Partnership […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 12/5/2014 The Nov. 28 release of a Final Environmental Impact Statement has activated a 30-day waiting period before Air Force officials will decide whether to expand the Powder River Training Complex (PRTC), currently used by B-52s housed at Minot AFB and B-1s housed at Ellsworth AFB. The PRTC currently spans approximately […]

Rottler to Take Over as Deputy Lab Director in March NS&D Monitor 12/5/2014 Stephen Rottler, the head of Sandia National Laboratories’ California campus, is taking over as the lab’s new deputy director and executive vice president for National Security Programs. Rottler will replace longtime lab executive Jerry McDowell, who will retire in July, on March […]

Mystery Material Sets Off Monitoring Alarms at Y-12 Beta-2E Facility NS&D Monitor 12/5/2014 For the first time in at least 15 years, a worker’s personal air monitor picked up an “action level” of an unidentified hazardous material used in a secret operation in a secret part of the Y-12 National Security Complex, according to a […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 11/21/2014 KNOXVILLE, Tenn.—Uranium Processing Facility project officials provided the first glimpse of the new approach on the revamped multi-billion-dollar project this week, revealing that the structure will consist of three main buildings. The approach represents a departure from the “big box” strategy that was scrapped earlier this year because of massive […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 11/21/2014 The Congressional Advisory Panel on the Governance of the Nuclear Security Enterprise briefed Congress last week on its final recommendations and is putting the finishing touches on its report, NS&D Monitor has learned. The report was initially due in July, but delays in standing up the panel slowed its progress, […]

Former Weapons Program Chief Bret Knapp Dies NS&D Monitor 11/21/2014 Bret Knapp, the former acting Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Director and head of Los Alamos National Laboratory’s weapons program, died earlier this week, Los Alamos Director Charlie McMillan said in a Nov. 19 message to employees. Knapp served as the acting LLNL director for nearly […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 11/21/2014 In the wake of two reports released  last week that exposed widespread flaws in U.S. nuclear enterprise personnel structures, the Defense Department has vowed to grow Global Strike Command by 1,100 military and civilian billets, up from the personnel increase of 848 announced in August. The increases are aimed at […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 11/21/2014 Soon after Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced last week  upcoming reforms to the under-resourced U.S. nuclear enterprise, Rep. Buck McKeon (R-Calif.), chair of the House Armed Services Committee, called for his Congressional peers to appropriate funding toward the aging nuclear arsenal, and urged President Obama to dump his “Global Zero” […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 11/21/2014 After Dec. 11, a subsequent short-term or year-long Continuing Resolution to continue to fund the federal government could prompt Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) to request a funding anomaly to enable the building of an Ohio-class replacement test facility later this year. The program’s Fiscal Year 2015 budget request sought […]

As is our annual practice, NS&D Monitor will not publish next week in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday. The next regular issue will be in your inbox Dec. 5. The Weapons Complex Morning Briefing will continue to be published Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and we will issue bulletins should any major news break in the […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 11/21/2014 A high emphasis on past performance and a lack of focus on broad manufacturing approaches could dissuade some companies from bidding on the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Kansas City National Security Campus contract, industry officials have told NS&D Monitor. The NNSA said earlier this month that it was planning to […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 11/21/2014 As part of an effort to revamp shipyards, which house aging SSBNs and staff a rapidly aging civilian workforce, the Navy plans to update infrastructure at Strategic Weapons Facilities, and to hire approximately 2,450 civilian shipyard and refit facility workers. Hiring will include 100 military and civilian personnel for the […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 11/21/2014 The United States should take another look at its policy of excluding low-enriched uranium from foreign-owned companies from its tritium production efforts, the Government Accountability Office said in a report released late last week. In a report requested by Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas), the GAO noted […]

Formerly Known as Wackenhut, Security Contract Bought by Alvarez & Marsal Capital Security Holdings Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 11/21/2014 G4S Government Solutions will be sold to the private equity firm Alvarez & Marsal Capital Security Holdings, LLC, for $135 million, its parent company said last week. G4S, the global security company based in the United […]

Simpson to Remain Chairman of House E&W Approps; Upton Back as House E&C Committee Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 11/21/2014 There will be familiar faces in the next Congress atop the House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee and House Energy and Commerce Committee, but a new leader for the House Armed Services Committee. Rep. Mac Thornberry […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 11/21/2014 After the failed Antares rocket launch late last month prompted ATK leadership to review the planned merger of its aerospace and defense businesses with the rocket’s manufacturer Orbital Sciences, ATK has decided to follow through with the move, the company announced this week. “Since the incident, the companies have conducted […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 11/21/2014 Laboratory contractor employees received hundreds of thousands of dollars in per diem payments while on Intergovernment Personnel Act assignments with the Department of Energy, some for as long as six years, DOE’s Inspector General said in a report released this week that highlights lax oversight of the temporary detail program. The […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 11/21/2014 The Department of Energy is investing $425 million in its pursuit of exascale supercomputing, including the award of two new supercomputers at the Oak Ridge and Lawrence Livermore national laboratories. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz announced the awards late last week, as well as a $100 million boost to DOE’s FastForward […]

NRC Extends MOX Construction Deadline NS&D Monitor 11/21/2014 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission last week extended the construction authorization deadline for completion of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility by 10 years until March 30, 2025. Contractor CB&I AREVA MOX Services requested the extension in May after delays in construction due to funding cuts and delays […]

Permanent Security Fence Going Up in Front of Y-12 NS&D Monitor 11/21/2014 A new security barrier is being constructed at the Y-12 National Security Complex and this time it will be permanent. Steven Wyatt, a spokesman for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Production Office, confirmed this week that a “temporary” security fence alongside Y-12 entrance […]