Trump nominates NNSA deputy and defense nuclear nonproliferation lead

President Donald Trump has tapped Scott Pappano and Matthew Napoli to be the National Nuclear Security Administration’s principal deputy administrator and deputy administrator for defense nuclear nonproliferation, respectively.

The nominations require Senate confirmation. 

Both Pappano and Napoli were received by the Senate Armed Services Committee Monday. A date for a confirmation hearing for either has not been announced.

Brandon Williams, Trump’s pick for administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and undersecretary of nuclear security, was also received by the Senate and referred to the Armed Services committee Jan. 20.

Pappano’s most recent position was principal military deputy assistant secretary of the Navy from July 2024, according to his bio on the Navy’s website. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1989 with a bachelor’s degree in marine engineering, and holds a master’s degree in nuclear engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

According to Napoli’s Linkedin profile, he was most recently the executive director of foreign and public affairs at the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program, a joint DOE and Navy organization. He was also an officer in the Navy from 2004 to 2009. 

Napoli received a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Louisiana Tech University in 2004, a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School in 2006, and a doctorate degree in public policy and public administration, science and technology policy from the George Washington University in 2019.