Thomas Summers, a former Air Force officer confirmed last month by the U.S. Senate for a post at the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB), will be sworn in on Monday.
Summers will be vice chairman of the federal health-and-safety watchdog for defense-nuclear sites, DNFSB Manager of Board Operations Tara Tadlock said in a Wednesday email.
Summers and a trio of incumbent DNFSB board members — Joyce Connery, Jessie Hill Roberson, and Chairman Bruce Hamilton — were all confirmed by the Senate July 2 via voice vote. Summers is a former vice commander of the 91st Missile Wing at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota.
Summers won a double-barrel confirmation from the Senate — both to serve out a partial term that ends on Oct. 18 of this year, then serve a full term that runs into October 2024. He was first nominated to the partial term in January 2019, to fill a spot previously held by former DNFSB Chairman Sean Sullivan, who resigned in February 2018 after urging the Donald Trump administration to dismantle the board.
While DNFSB lacks actual regulatory-enforcement teeth, it makes health and safety recommendations that the secretary of energy must publicly accept or reject.
Matthew Moury, a former DNFSB staff member and Energy Department associate undersecretary for environment, health, safety, and security, was nominated for the remaining open spot on the board last month and referred to the Senate Armed Services Committee.
