Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 8/29/2014 After a two-and-a-half-month summer vacation, former acting National Nuclear Security Administration chief Bruce Held returned this week to the Department of Energy. Held’s title will apparently remain the same—associate deputy secretary—but his duties have not been fully defined. “Governance issues have long been my central concern so I hope to […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 8/29/2014 An Atlantic Council/Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security issue brief urges NATO to renew its focus on nuclear deterrence, calling nuclear weapons a “’core element of’ the Alliance’s ‘overall strategy.” The piece, published this week, dubs this era “the Second Nuclear Age,” and predicts tensions in Ukraine and the South […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 8/29/2014 Construction has been largely completed on the Pantex Plant’s new High Explosives Pressing Facility and Y-12/Pantex contractor Consolidated Nuclear Security is expected to take possession of the building next month, NS&D Monitor has learned. The facility isn’t expected to be immediately operational as it will have to go through rigorous […]

Report Initially Blocked From Public Release Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 8/29/2014 While the National Nuclear Security Administration’s management of the response program to radiological emergencies is “generally” in a state of readiness, there are issues with aging equipment and potential reliability issues, the Department of Energy’s Office of Inspector General found in an inspection report […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 8/29/2014 The Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico will host an industry day from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sept. 4 to discuss a Reentry System Field Support Equipment (RFSE) Request for Information and draft Request for Proposals released this week. Topics to be […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 8/29/2014 Northrop Grumman has been awarded a sole-source contract modification that will assist the United States SSBN program in becoming New START compliant. The Defense Department Monday announced a $7.6 million addition to a $113-million firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-incentive-fee/cost-plus-fixed-fee contract awarded to Northrop Grumman in December. Part of a larger effort to improve […]

The following interview with Maj. Gen. Garrett Harencak, the Air Force Assistant Chief of Staff for Strategic Deterrence and Nuclear Integration (A10), was conducted by Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor Reporter Brian Bradley. NS&D Monitor 8/29/2014 There’s been a lot of attention focused on the cheating scandal in the Air Force missileer ranks and recovering […]

FAS Pushes for Reinstatement of LANL Scientist NS&D Monitor 8/29/2014 The Federation of American Scientists is calling on Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz to reinstate Los Alamos nonproliferation analyst James Doyle, who was fired earlier this summer in retaliation for a report advocating a world without nuclear weapons. In an Aug. 21 letter to Moniz, FAS […]

NS&D Monitor 8/29/2014 Seismic Activity in Oak Ridge Could be More Severe Than Previously Thought New data from the U.S. Geologic Survey suggests that seismic activity in Oak Ridge might be more severe than previously predicted. The information was released this month, updating 2008 data and indicating an increase in potential seismic activity, and an […]

NS&D Monitor 8/29/2014 IN THE INDUSTRY Bechtel executive Kim Cassara is joining Los Alamos National Laboratory as its associate director for Project Management starting Oct. 1, LANL Director Charlie McMillan said in a message to employees earlier this month. Cassara replaces Matt Nuckols, who left Los Alamos earlier this month to work on the Uranium […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 8/22/2014 KANSAS CITY—Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration and contractor officials formally dedicated the NNSA’s new Kansas City Plant today, unveiling a facility that has helped modernize the nation’s weapons complex but that officials also hope could renew a unique approach in paying for some of the infrastructure needs across […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 8/22/2014 With Congress raising questions about the Obama Administration’s ‘3+2’ strategy for modernizing the nation’s nuclear arsenal, Strategic Command chief Adm. Cecil Haney last week said he is “very concerned” about the future of the strategy but emphasized its importance. Haney spoke to reporters after a speech at U.S. Strategic Command’s […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 8/22/2014 LA VISTA, Neb.—Rose Gottemoeller, the Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, last week dismissed a call for the United States to withdraw from the New START Treaty in response to alleged Russian Violations of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty as “crazy.” Gottemoeller addressed U.S. Strategic Command’s […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 8/22/2014 After completing in July an Analysis of Alternatives for the ICBM leg of the nuclear triad, the Air Force has reportedly settled on a “hybrid” model, which would incorporate the fundamental design, communication structure and existing launch silos for the Minuteman III while swapping out older rocket motors and antiquated […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 8/22/2014 LA VISTA, Neb.—Tensions involving Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have “tamped down” talk of arms control, disarmament and nonproliferation among United States allies at NATO, according to a senior NATO official. Speaking at U.S. Strategic Command’s Deterrence Symposium last week, Fred Frederickson, the director of the Nuclear Policy Division on the […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 8/22/2014 With the Administration moving forward on a new plutonium strategy that involves building modular facilities to house plutonium work at Los Alamos National Laboratory, a new report from Congressional Research Service nuclear weapons policy specialist Jonathan Medalia raises a host of questions about how much space is available at the […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 8/22/2014 Contractors on Aug. 5 demolished the last 10 of 50 deactivated Minuteman III silos previously operated by the 564th Missile Squadron at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana to comply with the New START Treaty, Global Strike Command said. The dismantlement comes two months after workers finished reconfiguring the multi-headed […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 8/22/2014 LA VISTA, Neb.—After establishing a program manager for uranium production, National Nuclear Security Administration chief Frank Klotz said the agency is strengthening—and in some cases creating—program manager positions for all of its life extension programs as well as its plutonium and tritium work. Speaking at U.S. Strategic Command’s Deterrence Symposium […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 8/22/2014 A new bipartisan National Institute for Public Policy study has concluded that minimum deterrence is an ineffective model for the post-Cold War world.  Along with several academics, six retired high-level military officers and three former U.S. ambassadors contributed to the 59-page report titled “Minimum Deterrence: Examining the Evidence.” The study […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 8/22/2014 As Airmen face uncertainty related to the Air Force budget and service downsizing, the service has moved $50 million to shore up immediate, near-term nuclear facility upgrades and to compensate additional personnel to staff crucial jobs within Global Strike Command. The service has requested $350 million for GSC’s five-year-long Future […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 8/22/2014 A bipartisan group of 26 Senators remains upset with the Obama Administration’s commitment to nuclear nonproliferation and is asking the Administration to request more funding for nuclear security work in Fiscal Year 2016. Led by Sens. Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), the Senators criticized the Administration for reducing […]

Congress was out and Washington was empty, but that didn’t stop news from breaking during our annual publication break. As chronicled in the Weapons Complex Morning Briefing, here are a few stories that we’ve been following. AECOM Facing Legal Challenges to Planned Purchase of URS AECOM disclosed earlier this month that it is facing several […]

DNFSB Raises Safety Concerns About LANL TRU Waste Facility Project NS&D Monitor 8/22/2014 With construction looming on a new Transuranic Waste Facility project at Los Alamos National Laboratory, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board is raising a handful of safety issues, including some that are old and some that are new. In an Aug. 7 […]

Fired Y-12 Guard Loses Final Appeal for Reinstatement NS&D Monitor 8/22/2014 One of the casualties of 2012 break-in at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant has suffered another setback. Kirk Garland, the security police officer fired after the security breach, lost his arbitration case in which he sought backpay and reinstatement. Garland said he was notified […]

New H-Canyon Missions Starting Up After Pause for Upgrades NS&D Monitor 8/22/2014   After a months-long unexpected pause in operations at the Savannah River Site’s H-Canyon facility to make numerous upgrades, the facility is poised to start several new missions. That includes production of plutonium oxide and downblending of used fuel at the site’s L […]

As is our annual practice, Nuclear Security and Deterrence Monitor is taking a summer publication break and will not publish for the next two weeks. The next regular issue will be on your desk Aug. 22. Subscribers to the Weapons Complex Morning Briefing service will receive editions twice-a-week on a Tuesday/Thursday basis during the break. […]

Recommendation Would Avoid Call For Drastic Move to DoD, Independent Agency Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 8/1/2014 The Congressional advisory panel on the governance of the nuclear security enterprise is solidifying the recommendations it will make in its final report and is preparing to call for the authority of the National Nuclear Security Administration to be […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 8/1/2014 AIKEN, S.C.—Lawmakers gathered at the Savannah River Site early this week voiced optimism about keeping construction going on the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility project in Fiscal Year 2015, but Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said the future of the project remains unclear and is subject to sustained funding for the […]