President Donald Trump will nominate a familiar face, Joyce Connery, to serve a new term on the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB), the White House said Tuesday morning.
If confirmed by the Senate, Connery would serve a term expiring Oct. 18, 2025, according to the intent to nominate announcement. Initially nominated by President Barack Obama, she joined the board in August 2015.
Connery’s regular term technically expired in Oct. 18, 2019, but she continues to serve under DNFSB rules that allow a member to serve until a replacement is confirmed. She served two years as DNFSB chair from 2015 through 2017.
Connery is a former director of nuclear energy policy within the Office of International Economics on the National Security Council. She has worked for Department of Energy national laboratories as well as its semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA).
The DNFSB is the federal watchdog for the Department of Energy’s nuclear complex. It has up to five members, with three currently serving: Connery, Chairman Bruce Hamilton, and board member Jessie Hill Roberson.
Hamilton and Roberson have been nominated to new terms, and are waiting for confirmation votes on the Senate floor. A new nominee, former Air Force 91st Missile Wing vice commander Thomas Summers, is also waiting for Senate confirmation.
However, the Senate in January returned the nomination of National Nuclear Security Administration official Lisa Vickers to the White House. Vickers did not receive a confirmation vote by the Senate Armed Services Committee.
