The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) confirmed Wednesday that Stephen Younger will retire as director of the Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico effective Dec. 31, after two years managing the nation’s nuclear-weapon engineering laboratory.
The local Albuquerque Journal reported the news first.
In a short note to employees, provided by Sandia’s public affairs office, Younger said he was leaving for personal reasons.
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
One of the great honors of my career has been to join you as a Sandian. Since arriving at the Laboratories, I have been truly impressed with the impact that you have on the security of our nation and the world. The time has come, however, for me to retire. I have several more books that I would like to write, and Mari and I look forward to visiting our grandchildren in Australia. I have informed the NTESS Board of Managers of my intent to retire as Laboratories Director on December 31, 2019. The Board is actively engaged in a systematic search for my successor.
I would like to thank all of you for your welcome to the Laboratories and for the outstanding service that you provide to our country. It has been a pleasure and privilege to serve with you.
Best regards,
Steve
“I am profoundly grateful to Dr. Younger for his exceptional leadership at the helm of Sandia National Laboratories,” NNSA Administrator Lisa Gordon-Hagerty said in a statement. “During his tenure as Labs Director, he has made significant contributions to NNSA’s national security missions through many scientific and engineering advancements to maintain our nuclear deterrent.”
Dori Ellis, the deputy labs director at Sandia, will take over as interim director after Younger departs. Ellis became deputy director in June after David Douglass retired.
Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.), the state’s senior U.S. senator who is retiring in 2020, thanked Younger “for his work on guiding Sandia National Laboratory through the latest transition.”
Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) thanked Younger for “leverag[ing] Sandia’s technical resources in partnership with universities, local small businesses, and the private sector.”
National Technology and Engineering Solutions has managed Sandia since April 2017, when it wrapped up a four-month transition period to take over from the Lockheed Martin-owned Sandia Corp. Younger has been at the helm that whole time.
The Sandia management contract, awarded in 2016, is worth around $25 billion over 10 years, with options. The company is in the second year the contract’s five-year base period. The lab’s main facility is near Albuquerque, N.M. It maintains a satellite facility near the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, Calif., along with other offices and sites.
Sandia designs the non-nuclear parts of nuclear weapons, and certifies each year that the U.S. nuclear arsenal can perform as designed. The lab also maintains the Z machine high-energy density physics facility. The laboratory had a roughly $3.5 billion budget in 2018. About 70% of that comes from the Department of Energy, with the Department of Defense providing the remaining 30%.
Younger is a former weapons designer from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, from 1982 to 1989. Before running Sandia, he was president of the former site-management contractor for the Nevada National Security Site, National Security Technologies. He also did stints at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and as director of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency.
Younger earned his bachelor’s degree in physics from The Catholic University of America in Washington, in 1973; a master’s degree in physics from the University of Maryland in College Park, Md., in 1975; and a doctorate degree in physics from the University of Maryland in 1978.
