Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 6/13/2014 Lawmakers on the House Appropriations Committee this week adopted an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2015 Defense Appropriations Act that would require the Department of Defense to provide a report to Congress on the nuclear contributions of U.S. NATO allies. The amendment was added to the bill as part of […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 6/13/2014 Calling Russia’s actions to test a land-based cruise missile a “material breach” of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, the top Republican on the House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee pressed President Obama this week to take action against Russia. Speaking at the Capitol Hill Club June 11, Rep. Mike Rogers […]

Bill Would Trim $111 Million From Weapons Account, Boost Funding For MOX Facility Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 6/13/2014 Lawmakers on the House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee cleared the Fiscal Year 2015 Energy and Water Appropriations Act this week, including a slight $111 million cut to the National Nuclear Security Administration’s weapons program, though the […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 6/13/2014 New National Nuclear Security Administration head Frank Klotz said this week that he “categorically rejects” the interim findings of a Congressionally mandated panel on governance of the nuclear enterprise that concluded the creation of the semi-autonomous agency was a “failed experiment.” Speaking June 10 at an Energy Facilities Contractors Group […]

Todd Jacobson and Mike Nartker NS&D Monitor 1/31/2014 Tensions are running high at the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board amidst personnel changes in a set of key management positions and a sharp drop in employee satisfaction over the last year, as well as a more recent Inspector General’s investigation in response to a complaint about […]

NS&D Monitor 1/31/2014 In a stern warning to Congress against additional Iran sanctions, President Obama drew on the Administration’s arms control and nuclear security record to bolster the case for American diplomacy with Iran in his State of the Union address this week. “American diplomacy has rallied more than fifty countries to prevent nuclear materials […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 1/31/2014 The National Nuclear Security Administration this week released the detailed Fiscal Year 2013 Performance Evaluation Reports for its eight sites, shedding light on what its contractors did well—and not so well—during FY 2013 (links to the reports for each site can be found on the NNSA’s web site). B&W Y-12, […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 1/31/2014 As the number of Air Force officers implicated in a cheating scandal at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana grew to 92 this week, Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James suggested the service was suffering from “systemic” problems. Air Force officials previously said 34 airmen had been involved in cheating […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 1/31/2014 With negotiations ongoing on a number of civil nuclear agreements, lawmakers pressed Obama Administration officials this week on the need for more Congressional oversight of such deals. While the agreements, known as ‘123 agreements,’ currently must only sit before Congress for 90 legislative days before entering into force, a bill […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 1/31/2014 A Government Accountability Office hearing on a protest of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Y-12/Pantex award by Babcock & Wilcox-led Nuclear Production Partners (NP2) has been pushed back until next week. The hearing was supposed to take place Jan. 29, but Ralph White, the GAO’s managing associate general counsel, confirmed […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 1/31/2014 Russia has begun testing a new cruise missile that violates the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, according to a news report this week. The New York Times reported Jan. 30 that acting Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Rose Gottemoeller had met with NATO allies earlier […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 1/31/2014 USEC and the Department of Energy this week launched a nearly three-month extension of a cost-share program supporting USEC’s American Centrifuge technology during which additional tests will be performed. The extension, running from Jan. 29 until April 15, will use about $5.9 million of USEC funds and $23.05 million in […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 1/31/2014 A stunning event that took place on July 28, 2012 took another stunning turn this week when the sentencing hearing for the three Y-12 protesters was postponed as it neared its conclusion because of surprising snowfall that forced the closure of the Federal Courthouse in Knoxville, Tenn. William Quigley, a […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 1/31/2014 The Pantex Guards Union said this week it will seek to reinstate 11 security officers who were fired by contractor B&W Pantex after the company claimed they engaged in a “sick-out” and failed to report for work on Jan. 21. B&W filed a charge the 11 security officers assigned to […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 1/31/2014 The United States has finally secured an agreement with Japan for Tokyo to transfer 730 pounds of plutonium to the U.S., according to Japanese news reports. An announcement of the agreement is expected to come during the Nuclear Security Summit scheduled for March in the Netherlands, and Obama Administration officials […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 1/31/2014 The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board this week closed a 2009 recommendation on policies and standards related to quantitative risk assessment methodologies in the Department of Energy complex. In December, the Department told the DNFSB numerous steps it had taken to resolve issues in the recommendation “Risk Assessment Methodologies at […]

WIND FARM ON SCHEDULE FOR JULY START NS&D Monitor 1/31/2014 Pantex Plant officials anticipate the plant’s new wind farm, the federal government’s largest, will be operational in July and will generate enough power to provide more than 65 percent of the nuclear weapons plant’s annual electricity needs. On Jan. 23, representatives from Siemens USA, Texas […]

HONEYWELL LOOKING TO TRIM WORKFORCE BY 84 EMPLOYEES NS&D Monitor 1/31/2014 Kansas City Plant contractor Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies is planning to trim its workforce by 84 employees, a spokesperson said this week. Honeywell spokeswoman Shaunda Parks said the plant’s move out of the Bannister Federal Complex and into a new home “necessitated” the […]

Y-12 STABILIZES WEEPING CYLINDERS AT BETA-2E NS&D Monitor 1/31/2014 An unusual and potentially tricky situation in Y-12’s Beta-2E facility—where warhead parts are assembled and disassembled and inspected for quality—has apparently been stabilized until future actions for disposition become necessary. A November report by staff of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board described the situation and […]

NS&D Monitor 1/31/2014 IN CONGRESS The Senate Armed Services Committee cleared the nomination of Madelyn Creedon, the Obama Administration’s pick to be the Principal Deputy Administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration, this week, though it’s unclear how long it might take for the full Senate to vote on her. Like Creedon, retired Air Force […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 1/24/2014 With the clock ticking on the Government Accountability Office’s review of Babcock & Wilcox’s protest of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Y-12/Pantex procurement, the agency has scheduled a hearing for next week, NW&M Monitor has learned. Babcock & Wilcox-led Nuclear Production Partners pushed for a hearing on its third protest […]

NS&D Monitor 1/24/2014 The Obama Administration will release its Fiscal Year 2015 budget on March 4, about a month later than required by federal law. The release will come about a month earlier than last year—the Administration released its budget plans in April—largely because of delays in getting a budget deal and full-year FY 2014 […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 1/24/2014 A new report from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board is raising questions about whether Los Alamos National Laboratory will be able to get out of the aging Chemistry and Metallurgy Research facility by 2019 as planned. In a newly released Dec. 27 site rep report, the DNFSB said repurposing […]

Kenneth Fletcher and Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 1/24/2014 Some small businesses are concerned about the potential impacts of a provision passed by Congress last week that allows some subcontracts to be counted toward the Department of Energy’s small business prime contracting goal. The omnibus appropriations bill signed into law last week includes language that would […]