The National Nuclear Security Administration partnered with other government agencies to conduct an exercise on how a team would gather evidence to support the president make decisions in a nuclear attack scenario.
The Prominent Hunt exercise series, which the recent exercise was part of, took place Jan. 26 to 31 around Schenectady, N.Y., the Pentagon announced March 5. It featured the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), the FBI and the Defense Department’s Army 20th CBRNE Command and Air Force Technical Application Center, all of which make up the National Technical Nuclear Forensics Ground Collection Task Force.
The Ground Collection Task Force is responsible, in the event of a nuclear detonation, of collecting nuclear debris samples near the detonation site and transporting the samples to DoD labs for analysis.
The National Nuclear Security Administration put up a notice March 6 for a solicitation of high-purity depleted uranium production on government contract database sam.gov.
While there is not much information yet on the contract, the contracting office address is listed as Albuquerque, N.M., and offers are due April 22.
Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian said Iran would not negotiate with the U.S. on a nuclear deal while it was being threatened, according to Iranian state media.
Pezeshkian’s comments come after President Donald Trump said he sent a letter to Iran urging the Islamic republic to negotiate a nuclear deal. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said last Saturday in an interview with Iranian leaders that Iran would not be bullied into talks.
Trump has added a “maximum pressure” take on Iran to his agenda, and recently said in an interview with Fox Business that Iran could be handled “militarily, or you make a deal.”
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee and a senior member of the Armed Services Committee, said on Wednesday she will not seek reelection in 2026.
Shaheen, who is also a member of the Appropriations Committee and its defense panel, noted she will serve out the remainder of her term, with her decision likely to set a highly-competitive race for the New Hampshire seat.
“I ran for public office to make a difference for the people of New Hampshire. That purpose has never and will never change. But today, after careful consideration, I’m announcing that I have made the difficult decision not to seek reelection to the Senate in 2026. It’s just time,” Shaheen said in a video statement.
Obituary
Rep. Sylvester Turner (D-Texas), who was serving his first term in the House of Representatives and formerly was the mayor of Houston, died at the age of 70 on March 5 of what his family described as “enduring health complications.”
A funeral will be held for Turner this Saturday, March 15, at the Church Without Walls in Houston.
Turner was on the House Science, Space and Technology subcommittee on Energy, where recently he asked directors of the national labs in a hearing how they were all affected by President Donald Trump’s executive order ending “diversity, equity, and inclusion” programs in the federal government.
