The White House Office of Management and Budget last week requested another $1.59 billion from Congress to continue building the Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine.
A senior Navy official told reporters Monday that OMB requested two anomalies divided into $1.59 billion to continue the Columbia-class (SSBN) program during a continuing resolution. The SSBN anomaly is aimed at allowing the Navy to continue its priority program while the government is under a continuing resolution.
The $1.59 billion, meant to allow the Navy to start moving forward on advance procurement, falls between the fiscal-year 2024 enacted level and requested fiscal-year 2025 level
Media reported this week that President-elect Donald Trump is considering Florida governor Ron DeSantis as his pick for the U.S. Secretary of Defense.
Trump’s former pick, Fox News host Pete Hegseth, faces controversy recently due to concerns over his drinking and allegations about his poor treatment of women, which Hesgeth has denied. Analysts also said he was an “extremely unusual pick” without a record of foreign policy, and at least six senators were wavering on their support of Hegseth if called to confirm him.
DeSantis formerly served in the Navy as a lieutenant commander. He supported operations in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and Iraq.
The National Nuclear Security Administration’s Environment, Safety and Health program advanced a multi-site collaboration in shipping stockpile pits and subcritical experiments, the agency said in a press release Monday.
The Defense Programs Package (DPP)-1 container was designed to replace an aging container, and aims to improve shipping efficiency, safety and cost. DPP-1 underwent weapons-specific testing to generate data for Los Alamos National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Savannah River Site, the agency said.
“Multi-use containers like the DPP-1 make packaging and shipping more streamlined for NNSA’s Office of Defense Programs as they move products from weapons designers and weapons testers to the location in which the final weapon is built,” Matthew Weber, Program Manager for the ESH Packaging Program, said in the release.
Obituary
John Wolcott, a retired scientist from Los Alamos National Laboratory, died at 85 on Sept. 1 in Santa Fe, N.M. according to an obituary posted online.
The obituary did not specify a cause of death, but said he died “peacefully, surrounded by his children.” He lived in Santa Fe.
Wolcott focused on the disarmament of nuclear weapons globally, and worked on negotiations for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. He retired in 2001 after 31 years of service at the lab.