FORMER NNSA NONPRO. CHIEF RAILS AGAINST CUTS TO NUCLEAR SECURITY PROGRAMS

Former National Nuclear Security Administration nonproliferation chief William Tobey blasted cuts to the agency’s nonproliferation program, arguing in a May 14 Politico op-ed that the Obama Administration should place a higher priority on the threat reduction work. The Administration cut about $400 million from the NNSA’s nonproliferation program in its Fiscal Year 2014 request, including a $79 million cut to the Global Threat Reduction Initiative and a slowdown on the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility. “The nation is in a budget crisis, but that makes wise choices all the more important,” said Tobey, a senior fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. “To govern is to choose one’s priorities, and the president says securing and reducing stockpiles of nuclear weapons material are top national priorities. A bipartisan consensus agrees with him. At least on this point, so vital to national security, the president and Congress should come together and provide the funds necessary to secure or to dispose of dangerous nuclear material.”