Air Force Brig. Gen. Stacy Jo Huser has joined the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) as principal assistant deputy administrator for military application in the Office of Defense Programs, where she will oversee weapons modernization and testing, and serve as the military’s point of contact for these civilian-run programs.
Huser will run “stockpile management activities, production modernization, and secure transportation of special nuclear materials, as well as interfacing with our [Department of Defense] partners regarding requirements and deliverables,” the Department of Energy agency said in a Friday press release. She will report to Charles Verdon, NNSA deputy administrator for defense programs.
Huser’s new role covers many of the programs in the NNSA’s Stockpile Management budget line, for which the agency requested some $4.3 billion in fiscal 2021. That would be down about $1 billion from the 2020 budget, mostly because the NNSA revised its bookkeeping for 2021, moving the budgets for some fissile-materials programs into new line items within the Office of Defense Programs.
“As a commissioned officer in the United States Air Force, Brig Gen Huser provides insight into the needs of the military services, liaises with DoD partners, and is a voting member of the Nuclear Weapons Council Standing Safety Committee,” an NNSA spokesperson said Tuesday. Huser will also become “the first assistant to Deputy Administrator for Defense Programs [Charles Verdon] and authorized to serve as acting when the Deputy Administrator for Defense Programs becomes vacant.”
Air Force officers of this rank cycle in and out of the position Huser holds now.
Brig. Gen. Ty Neuman was the previous principal assistant deputy administrator for military application. He left in May after completing his tour at the NNSA and is now serving on the National Security Council, an NNSA spokesperson said Monday.
Huser comes to the NNSA from U.S. Strategic Command, the intra-service force that operates U.S. nuclear weapons in the field. There, Huser was most recently director of the Commander’s Action Group at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb. In that position, “she led an eight-member, military and civilian supporting the commander and the staff of Strategic Command,” according to the NNSA’s presser.
