Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 9/26/2014 Congressional appropriators should act quickly to fund the Ohio Class replacement submarine, as recapitalization for the SSBNs is in the midst of a 20-year delay, Rear Adm. Joe Tofalo, the Navy’s director of Undersea Warfare, said in remarks delivered in Washington at a Sept. 18 Minot Air Force Base Task […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 9/26/2014 U.S. Strategic Command Vice Commander Lt. Gen. James Kowalski  confirmed late this week that a new “hybrid” mobile-option intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that would allow nuclear forces to respond to potential nuclear attacks with a greater degree of certainty than the 40-year-old Minuteman 3 ICBM is expected to debut in […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 9/26/2014 Numerous operations and security issues at Savannah River’s tritium facilities have led the Department of Energy and the site’s managing contractor, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, to step up oversight of operations at the plant. In July, the facilities experienced 10 events involving conduct of operations, quality control or security deficiencies, […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 9/26/2014 The National Nuclear Security Administration has directed Los Alamos National Laboratory to begin developing preliminary planning documents for the third phase of its plutonium strategy, the construction of modules that will complement the lab’s Plutonium Facility (PF-4). In a Sept. 16 memo to Los Alamos Field Office Manager Kim Lebak […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 9/26/2014 Though the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility was slated to go into “cold standby” at the beginning of Fiscal Year 2015 next week, the immediate path forward for the project remains unclear and the National Nuclear Security Administration has not provided word on the future of the project. Contractor CB&I […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 9/26/2014 As the Department of Energy moves to shift responsibility for cleanup work at Los Alamos National Laboratory to the DOE Office of Environmental Management, four LANL cleanup managers late this week were relieved of their duties in a major management change following issues with the site’s transuranic waste program. The […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 9/26/2014 Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory could be subject to penalties from its federal overseers for charging unallowable insurance costs to the government, according to a Department of Energy Inspector General assessment report released this week. The Aug. 13 report, released publicly Sept. 23, notes that from Fiscal Year 2008 to FY […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 9/26/2014 Despite tensions between the U.S. and Russia, 53 kilograms of highly enriched uranium were returned from Poland to an undisclosed facility in Russia last week in a joint operation coordinated by the National Nuclear Security Administration, and work remains on track to complete the HEU cleanout of Poland by 2016, […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 9/26/2014 As negotiations continue on an extension of the U.S. civil nuclear agreement with South Korea, the Council on Foreign Relations is recommending that the current agreement be extended until 2021 so that a study underway on proliferation risks can be taken into account. Congress earlier this year passed a two-year […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 9/26/2014 Air Force Brig. Gen. Stephen Davis is taking over as the top military official in the National Nuclear Security Administration’s weapons program, replacing Brig. Gen. James Dawkins as the agency’s Principal Assistant Deputy Administrator for Military Application, the NNSA said late last week. Davis most recently served as the Assistant […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 9/26/2014 Marine Corps veteran Jeffrey Johnson has been named as the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Chief of Defense Nuclear Security (CDNS) and Associate Administrator for Defense Nuclear Security, the agency said this week. Johnson previously served as the head of U.S. Marine Corps Civilian Law Enforcement and, according to the NNSA, […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 9/26/2014 Navy Strategic Systems Programs late last week awarded Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co. two contract modifications for work related to Trident II (D5) missiles. One of the contracts allocates $34.2 million toward meeting New START Treaty requirements, according to a Sept. 19 Defense Department announcement and Strategic Systems Programs spokesperson […]

Lab Won’t Be Penalized by DOE for Technetium-99 Contamination Incident NS&D Monitor 9/26/2014 Sandia National Laboratories will not be penalized for a contamination incident earlier this year at its Tomography and Radionuclide Transport Laboratory, the Department of Energy’s Office of Enforcement said this week. In a Sept. 22 letter to Sandia Director Paul Hommert, Office […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 9/26/2014 Air Force Global Strike Command this week successfully tested an unarmed Minuteman III missile, which flew from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., to Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands in a span of approximately 30 minutes, according to command spokesperson Carla Pampe. The missile was launched at 7:45 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time, and […]

URS Exec Conway Joins LANL Nuclear and High Hazard Ops Directorate NS&D Monitor 9/26/2014   URS executive Chuck Conway is joining Los Alamos National Laboratory as the operations manager in the lab’s Nuclear and High Hazard Operations Directorate, Associate Director for Nuclear and High Hazard Operations Cheryl Cabbil said in a message to lab employees […]

Deinventory of Y-12 Area 5 Underway NS&D Monitor 9/26/2014 The National Nuclear Security Administration has acknowledged that activities underway to reduce the inventory of highly enriched uranium inside production facilities at the Y-12 National Security Complex are part of the response to the Red Team report released earlier this year. “The de-inventory of Area 5 […]

NS&D Monitor 9/26/2014 IN THE NNSA The National Nuclear Security Administration recently completed an important test of the new joint Air Force and Navy radar in the W88 ALT 370, the agency said this week. The W88 ALT 370 will replace the arming, fuzing and firing assembly on the W88-0/Mk 5 warhead, and the Critical […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 9/19/2014 With a large bill to modernize the bomber- and ground-based legs of the nuclear triad looming, Air Force officials are discussing the potential creation of a national strategic deterrent fund, similar to the Sea-Based Deterrence Fund the Navy has proposed as a way to pay for its Ohio-class nuclear submarine […]

Hommert: B61 Can ‘Survive’ Short-term Stopgap Funding Measure, but Long-Term CR ‘Gets Dicier’ Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 9/19/2014 Engineering work at Sandia National Laboratories on the refurbishment of the B61 bomb will continue during Fiscal Year 2015 largely unaffected by a short-term Continuing Resolution, but the work can’t continue as planned under Fiscal Year 2014 […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 9/19/2014 The Congressional advisory panel on the governance of the nuclear security enterprise is close to completing its work, co-chairman Norm Augustine said in a recent interview with NS&D Monitor, but it’s unclear when the report will be released. Speaking on the sidelines of a National Lab Day event Sept. 16, […]

N.M. Regulator Has Called for LANL Cleanup to be Taken Out of NNSA Kenneth Fletcher and Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 9/19/2014 Following a call from New Mexico’s environmental regulator to break out the cleanup work at Los Alamos National Laboratory, LANL Director Charlie McMillan this week emphasized the advantages of keeping cleanup in the current […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 9/19/2014 The Obama Administration continues to plan to for U.S. ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty, although getting enough Republican support for ratification remains an uphill battle, senior Administration officials said this week. In remarks at a conference hosted by the U.S. Institute of Peace, Under Secretary of State for […]

Mike Nartker NS&D Monitor 9/19/2014 The Senate late this week confirmed the Obama Administration’s choice of Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall to serve as the next Deputy Secretary of Energy. Sherwood-Randall last served as Special Assistant to the President and White House Coordinator for Defense Policy, Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction, and Arms Control. Among her previous positions, […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 9/19/2014 Andrew Weber, who is stepping down as the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical, and Biological Defense Programs, is likely to continue to stay in the Obama Administration, he told NS&D Monitor this week. Speaking on the sidelines of a conference on nuclear testing at the U.S. Institute of […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 9/19/2014 The National Nuclear Security Administration appears to be moving forward with plans to implement the Red Team recommendation on an alternative strategy to the all-in-one and too-expensive Uranium Processing Facility. According to a newly released staff memo by staff of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, NNSA Uranium Program Manager […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 9/19/2014 As the Air Force is downsizing, $500 million will reinvigorate Global Strike Command’s Future Years Defense Program, and the command will bring in more than 1,100 people during the next several years as part of its Force Improvement Program (FIP), officials said this week. Officials announced the FIP in August […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 9/19/2014 President Obama has nominated Robert Scher to be the new Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy, Plans and Capabilities in a move to replace Madelyn Creedon, who left the Pentagon to serve as the Principal Deputy Administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration earlier this year. If he’s confirmed, Scher […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 9/19/2014 With work on the Fiscal Year 2015 Defense Authorization Act pushed back until after the November Congressional elections, House and Senate Armed Services Committee members began meeting this week for “pre-conference” talks, but Senate authorizers were absent when House members of the Strategic Forces subcommittee gather for discussions. According to […]