SEQUESTRATION TO CAUSE ‘PERMANENT DAMAGE’ TO NONPRO EFFORTS

If the across-the-board cuts known as sequestration take effect at the end of this week there will be “permanent damage” to the National Nuclear Security Administration’s nonproliferation efforts, NNSA acting Administrator Neile Miller told the House Appropriations Energy and Water subcommittee yesterday. “Even with reprogramming authority, which again we must have if sequestration were to become a reality, hundreds of nonproliferation jobs would be impacted,” she said in her opening remarks at a subcommittee hearing on the NNSA’s nonproliferation and naval reactors budgets. She added, “I want to be very direct here. Sequestration will cause severe damage to our programs and our capabilities. In some cases, permanent damage.”

As an example, she said that nuclear detonation detection technology could be at risk, a significant concern given the recent North Korea nuclear test. “A forced cut to our R&D nuclear detonation detection budget will cause NNSA to miss the delivery milestone of a crucial U.S. nuclear detonation detection satellite payload, and the satellite will be completed and launched without its intended nuclear detonation detection sensors,” she said. “This will degrade the U.S. ability to monitor surface and above-ground nuclear detonations as required by law, but also as required by common sense.”

But given the looming sequestration cuts, which will take effect March 1 without Congressional intervention, subcommittee Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.) confirmed that he planned to move ahead with FY 2014 appropriations legislation even without a budget request from NNSA. “While we would all appreciate the input of the Administration in the bills that we are charged to write, we will move forward, if necessary, without it,” he said in his opening remarks. “This lack of information becomes even more problematic when seen through the lens of the CR and sequestration, which is projected to take effect in a matter of days. With no budget request, we are robbed of the input of the thousands of professionals who have dedicated their lives to keeping this country safe.”

Print
0
46

false
false
false

MicrosoftInternetExplorer4

st1:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }

/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:”Table Normal”;
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:””;
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:”Times New Roman”;
mso-ansi-language:#0400;
mso-fareast-language:#0400;
mso-bidi-language:#0400;}