Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

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 […]

Mike Nartker NS&D Monitor 9/19/2014 CH2M Hill is looking to reduce its workforce by approximately 1,200 people out of 26,000 employees as part of a new restructuring plan that the company said last week is intended to generate approximately $100 million in “operational efficiencies.” The restructuring will entail “a voluntary retirement program, workforce reductions and […]

Kenneth Fletcher and Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 9/19/2014 The Department of Energy’s Office of Science has given more autonomy to national laboratories from headquarters on management and budget decisions, a DOE official this week told a panel tasked with reviewing the labs. The Congressionally-mandated Commission to Review the Effectiveness of the National Energy Laboratories pressed […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 9/19/2014 Sens. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and Jim Risch (R-Idaho) have formally established a bipartisan Senate National Laboratory Caucus aimed at rallying funding and policy support for the Department of Energy’s 17 institutions. The senators gathered with Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and directors or representatives from each of the 17 laboratories Sept. […]

Longtime UPF Procurement Manager Rich Brown Leaving for UK Project NS&D Monitor 9/19/2014 Rich Brown, the longtime procurement manager on the Uranium Processing Facility project, is leaving UPF to support a new project in the United Kingdom for Bechtel Systems and Infrastructure. He will be replaced by Bechtel procurement official Mark Swager, UPF Project Director […]

NNSA Asks DOE IG to Investigate Case of Fired LANL Nonprolif. Expert NS&D Monitor 9/19/2014 National Nuclear Security Administration chief Frank Klotz is asking the Department of Energy’s Inspector General to look into whether a Los Alamos National Laboratory nonproliferation expert was fired based on an the publication of a pro-nuclear abolition article. DOE has […]

Sandia Official to Serve as Director of National Ignition Facility NS&D Monitor 9/19/2014 Sandia National Laboratories official Mark Hermann will take over as the new director of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s National Ignition Facility Oct. 6, Principal Associate Director for NIF and Photon Science Jeff Wisoff said in a Sept. 16 memo obtained by NS&D […]

NS&D Monitor 9/19/2014 IN THE INDUSTRY All pending legal challenges to AECOM’s planned acquisition of URS have been dismissed, according to a URS filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission this week. Beginning in late July, seven class action lawsuits were filed against the planned acquisition, and by Aug. 5, six of the suits had […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 9/12/2014 The looming possibility that tritium operations at the Savannah River Site could be folded into Consolidated Nuclear Security’s Y-12/Pantex contract has tritium employees worried about a change in benefits and management concerned about the operational impacts that would accompany a loss of talent and knowledge if a large number of […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 9/12/2014 Andrew Weber, the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical, and Biological Defense Programs, said late this week that he will step down from his position this fall after more than five years in the role. Weber’s departure was first reported by Weapons Complex Morning Briefing. Weber, who also serves […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 9/12/2014 The vote for Scottish independence next week could have significant impacts on the future of the United Kingdom’s nuclear deterrent as Scottish leaders have vowed to remove the UK’s nuclear warheads and submarines from the base in Scotland that is their exclusive home should Scots vote for independence. There is […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 9/12/2014 The National Nuclear Security Administration has ordered new Y-12 contractor Consolidated Nuclear Security to dig deeper into a series of abnormal events over the past couple of years, assess whether there are any systemic issues that have been missed or undocumented and come up with a path forward that will […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 9/12/2014 House lawmakers are pushing back action on a short-term Continuing Resolution necessary to keep funding the federal government at the start of Fiscal Year 2015 as the President this week requested that authorization to take action against ISIS in Iraq and Syria be included in the CR. The CR would […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 9/12/2014 It doesn’t appear that Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Plutonium Facility will be fully operational any time soon, according to information released this week. Work at the facility was shut down in June  2013, with only partial operations having resumed, and National Nuclear Security Administration Acting Associate Administrator for Infrastructure and […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 9/12/2014 After the expiration of the current five-year Future Years Defense Program (FYDP), ongoing development of the long-range strike bomber (LRS-B) and replacement of 14 Ohio-class submarines could cause a significant dent in the post-Fiscal Year 2019 defense budget, according to a report by Todd Harrison, senior fellow of defense budget […]