Editor’s note: This is the final in a series of quarterly news summaries and analyses about President Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office and the U.S. nuclear deterrent during the new administration’s crucial first days.
The Donald Trump administration continues to shape its nuclear arms policy even as it very slowly advances its efforts to fill leadership positions across Cabinet agencies. With little movement in recruiting personnel – and orders to cut back on the federal workforce – the administration moves past its first 100 days facing the additional challenge of budget battles on Capitol Hill.
Lawmakers on Wednesday introduced a short-term continuing resolution to keep the government funded at current levels for another week – until May 5 – to give Congress time to finalize funding legislation for the rest of the fiscal year. The House and Senate approved the spending bill today, sending it to the president.
The National Nuclear Security Administration uses most of its roughly $13 billion annual budget to maintain the reliability of the nation’s nuclear stockpile. Changes to its mission will largely depend on new leadership and a new budget, neither of which are entirely in place yet. Here is where things stand for policy-making and the U.S. nuclear arsenal at the end of Trump’s first 100 days in office.
PERSONNEL
The NNSA has not yet filled its leadership vacancies or made high-level personnel changes since the last quarter of the administration’s first 100 days. Obama administration holdover Frank Klotz remains in his position as agency administrator, while candidates rumored to be under consideration for the job include former agency deputy administrator for defense nuclear nonproliferation and current Fluor executive Paul Longsworth and retired Navy admiral Jay Cohen.
Longsworth is also said to be under consideration for a deputy level position, along with Rob Hood, CH2M vice president for government affairs, and Willie Clark, federal business development manager at Burns & McDonnell.
The NNSA’s principal deputy administrator position, the No. 2 job at the agency, remains vacant following Madelyn Creedon’s retirement in January. Philip Calbos and David Huizenga are also still serving in an acting capacity as deputy administrator for defense programs and for defense nuclear nonproliferation, respectively. Once in place, new leadership will play a decisive role in shaping the agency’s mission and defending its budget priorities.
Hundreds of various other appointed positions are still vacant across the federal government, including the top arms control official job at the State Department. The Washington Examiner reported Wednesday that Trump said he would not fill all of those open positions, as “there are so many jobs in Washington, we don’t want so many jobs. You don’t need all of those people.”
The Office of Management and Budget earlier this month directed federal agencies to reduce their workforce in accordance with the White House budget blueprint issued last month and develop a plan to reform their activities while right-sizing their hiring practices. The OMB directed heads of federal agencies to submit a draft of their reform plans by the end of June, with a final plan due in September.
The White House proposed in its budget blueprint an 11 percent funding increase – to $1.4 billion – for the NNSA and a simultaneous 5.6 percent cut – to $28 billion – in overall Department of Energy spending from the current level of funding. The proposal did not provide a breakdown for program spending, but observers say the increase in NNSA funding would largely go toward weapons activities. A full budget is expected next month.
These numbers indicate NNSA might soon increase hiring of federal employees, while certain DOE offices are likely to cut staff. Even so, many argue that these uncertainties at the headquarters level are unlikely to significantly impact the nuclear enterprise, as most of the work is carried out at the NNSA’s national laboratories and other sites across the country.
It is not clear, however, whether uncertainties over personnel will have an impact on the agency’s upcoming procurements, such as the management and operations contract for the Los Alamos National Laboratory that will be up for bid as the current contract nears its expiration next September.
We’re watching for: New NNSA leadership and hiring policies.
POLICY
The Defense Department announced last week it has formally begun preparing a new Nuclear Posture Review to set the administration’s nuclear policy priorities for up to a decade. The review, to be led by the deputy secretary of defense and the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will involve interagency partners such as the State Department and the NNSA.
Gen. Paul Selva serves as the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs, while Robert Work, an Obama administration holdover, remains in the position of deputy secretary of defense. The White House said last month it would nominate Patrick Shanahan, Boeing’s senior vice president of supply chain and operations, to replace Work.
The Nuclear Posture Review will re-examine all parts of U.S. nuclear policy, including agreements such as the U.S.-Russian New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty and the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which has been a major focus for administration officials since they determined earlier this year that Russia has deployed a ground-launched cruise missile in violation of the treaty’s flight range limits.
The DOD expects to submit a final report to Trump by the end of the year, which will cover, among other things, U.S. response options to the Russian violation of the treaty and an overall approach toward what has remained an adversarial relationship with Moscow.
This week the Pentagon announced that Senate Armed Services Committee staffer Robert Soofer has been selected for appointment as deputy assistant defense secretary for nuclear and missile defense policy; this could give him significant responsibility in guiding the review process. Soofer served as a staff lead for the committee’s Strategic Forces Subcommittee, which covers nuclear, arms control, and missile defense issues.
Meanwhile, a national security presidential memorandum released early this month named Energy Secretary Rick Perry as a regular attendee on the National Security Council’s Principals Committee, indicating that the top steward of the U.S. nuclear arsenal may play a significant role in the administration’s approach to national security.
We’re watching for: White House statements of nuclear policy.
