Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

Jeff Chamberlin became the acting deputy administrator for defense nuclear nonproliferation at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) after the head of the nonproliferation office became the acting principal deputy administrator. NNSA made Chamberlin the acting deputy administrator on May 16. He is the NNSA’s full-time assistant deputy administrator for material minimization and management and […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s Office of Radiological Security and the European Commission’s Directorate General for Migration and Home Affairs spoke at last week’s International Conference on Nuclear Security on securing radioactive sources, according to a joint press release. The joint statement between the two powers highlighted the need to prevent the use of radioactive […]

The U.S. should declare nuclear “revitalization” in and outside of the National Nuclear Security Administration a national priority, the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee said Wednesday. The call by Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) was part of a 52-page proposal for “a generational investment in the U.S. military,” in which Wicker detailed plans […]

The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization and the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration signed a memorandum of understanding that seeks to solidify the nuclear security and relationship between the two countries. The memorandum was signed during the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency’s International Conference on Nuclear Security in Vienna last week, according to a […]

Idaho-based North Wind Group said Tuesday it appointed Paul Adams president of its North Wind Services company. Adams, who started his role as president on Tuesday, will lead business development and strategic initiatives, North Wind said in a Tuesday press release. Adams is a Marine Corps veteran with more than 25 years of commercial and […]

Louisiana-based Bernhard Capital Partners is adding another government contractor to its portfolio, announcing Tuesday it has purchased technology solutions provider Apogee Engineering for an undisclosed price. In a Tuesday press release, Bernhard said Apogee has a 20-year record of providing program management, cybersecurity and other technology needs to the U.S. government. “As the government seeks […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration plans to address Government Accountability Office recommendations about recruiting and retaining new contract and federal workers by the end of the year, the agency told the office. In two reports released Wednesday, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) recommended the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) attempt to streamline the process it […]

The House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday voted to keep legally binding  pit-production dates that the National Nuclear Security Administration does not believe it will meet. It was one of the few debates about nuclear weapons during Wednesday’s 12-hour markup of the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act, which the committee passed by 57-1 at about […]

The United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency released a factsheet on their Incident and Trafficking Database on Monday, citing 168 incidents in 2023 in 31 States. The IAEA Incident and Trafficking Database (ITDB) contains information on smuggling or otherwise illegal possession or sale of nuclear material, as well as the unauthorized disposal or discovery of […]

Early Wednesday, lawmakers approved an amendment to study use of a Nunn-McCurdy-type oversight process for the National Nuclear Security Administration. In an uncontroversial en bloc amendment package to the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), Rep. John Garamendi (R-Ca.) proposed that the Nunn-McCurdy Act requirement to keep Congress appraised of major spikes in project costs […]

On May 14, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory completed the first in the Nimble series of underground subcritical experiments at the Nevada National Security Site, according to a press release. The subcritical experiment was conducted at the Principal Underground Laboratory for Subcritical Experimentation, also known as the U1a Complex. In June 2023, a senior Livermore […]

After President Biden’s national security adviser met with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman this weekend, the Saudi foreign ministry said Sunday the Kingdom was close to finalizing a security deal with the U.S. Official statements by the White House and the Kingdom did not say what the two sides discussed, but media, citing […]

Early Wednesday, lawmakers approved an amendment to study use of a Nunn-McCurdy-type oversight process for the National Nuclear Security Administration. In an uncontroversial en bloc amendment package to the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), Rep. John Garamendi (R-Ca.) proposed that the Nunn-McCurdy Act requirement to keep Congress appraised of major spikes in project costs […]

On Friday, the Missouri House passed a bill offering tax breaks to expand the National Nuclear Security Administration’s nuclear-weapons-parts plant in Kansas City. “This is a huge economic benefit for Kansas City,” Rep. Chris Brown (R-Kansas City), who sponsored the bill alongside then-state-Sen. Greg Razer (D-Jackson County), told the Kansas City Star on Friday. The […]

Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi and his foreign minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian on Sunday died in a helicopter crash in northwest Iran, Iranian state media reported. The fatal crash happened about a month after Iran’s drone-and-missile attack against Israel and only weeks after the head of the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy visited Iran in an attempt […]

President Joe Biden said Thursday afternoon he plans to nominate William Isaac (Ike) White, acting head of Department of Energy nuclear cleanup since mid-2019, to become a member of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. News of the planned nomination, in a White House press release, comes only three weeks prior to when White would […]

President Biden (D) on Monday signed into law a ban on importing Russian uranium beginning in 2028, the White House announced. Under the bill, companies may no longer import unirradiated low-enriched uranium produced in Russia or by a Russian entity unless the importer gets a waiver from the Department of Energy. Waivers are only good […]

WASHINGTON — The National Nuclear Security Administration still plans to announce the new manager of Pantex Plant in June, the head of the agency said here Wednesday. Jill Hruby, administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), reiterated the timeline during an evening Capitol Hill panel discussion and reception hosted by Bechtel National, the nongovernmental […]

The Department of Energy said it is still reviewing the latest small business proposals it got to manage the National Training Center in New Mexico and planned an award no sooner than August. In 2023, three small businesses protested the Department of Energy’s (DOE) 2022 award to Eagle Harbor to manage the National Training Center […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s weapons programs would be authorized for slightly more than requested and its nonproliferation programs for slightly less if a defense bill published Monday becomes law. The House Armed Services Committee released the bill and report language for the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) on Monday and planned its annual […]

The National Nuclear Security of Administration’s Office of Counterterrorism and Counterproliferation coordinated a multi-laboratory nuclear forensics capabilities exercise, the agency said recently. The Epic Shadow exercise is held twice a year by the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to demonstrate the NNSA’s Nuclear Forensics Material Analysis Program (NF-MAP). With NF-MAP, NNSA says decision-makers will be […]

Senators in a hearing Wednesday pressed Ambassador Bonnie Jenkins about what the State Department is doing to deter Russia and China’s nuclear capabilities. Jenkins was the sole witness in the hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which met less than a year before the February 2026 expiration of the New START nuclear arms control […]

With a June 7 deadline looming, supporters of reauthorizing the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act gathered in the U.S. Capitol grounds Thursday to urge House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to hold a vote on the bill. As of the Thursday May 16 rally and press conference, the House of Representatives had nine working days left to […]

Nuclear power company Oklo, chaired by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, started trading on the New York Stock Exchange last week, dropped 54% directly after going public and rebounded to more than half of its initial offering price by market close on Thursday. Shares opened the day May 10 at $15.50 each and fell to $8.45 […]

A State Department spokesperson said in a press briefing this week that despite comments made by an Iranian official last week on Iran’s nuclear doctrine, the Joe Biden (D) administration assesses that the Islamic Republic is not building a nuclear weapon. The spokesperson was responding to a reporter’s question on Monday about a reported statement […]

Consolidated Nuclear Security planned to subcontract construction of a new vehicle fuel station at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, the site prime said Monday. The project includes designing and building the new fuel station for Y-12, as well as equipping a building with a computer station and three 10,000-gallon fueling systems, […]

Earnings rose at BWX Technologies, Lynchburg, Va., in the first quarter, during which the company said Monday it cranked out more naval-nuclear components but made less money on government business overall as it bulked up its workforce. Work is beginning under subsidiary contracts with the Tennessee Valley Authority and the National Nuclear Security (NNSA) Administration, […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration began planning Monday for a contract to annually produce 400 metric tons of high purity depleted uranium for future nuclear-weapon manufacturing. “Vendors should assume that a contract would be awarded by July 15, 2025,” the agency wrote in a request for information published Monday. Responses to the request for information […]