Lyle Cary has been named the new vice president of safeguards, security, and emergency services at the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Pantex Plant in Texas and Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee, the sites’ management and operations contractor announced Wednesday.
Ken Freeman, currently serving in that role, is set to retire at the end of this month after 40 years in the security field, Consolidated Nuclear Security said in a press release. Cary, a retired U.S. Air Force colonel, has over 30 years of security, emergency management, and law enforcement leadership experience, CNS said. He oversaw 11 military installations 7,500 security forces personnel, and nuclear and weapon system security as director of security forces for the Air Force’s Major Command. He then led the Los Alamos National Laboratory’s security and emergency operations, CNS said.
“[Freeman] has made lasting improvements to our physical security performance, which has been demonstrated by the exceptional marks received at each site for their most recent Department of Energy security assessments,” CNS CEO Morgan Smith said in a statement. “I am certain Lyle will carry that performance excellence forward.”
Late last year CNS established an integrated management team to help department managers within the safeguards, security, and emergency services organization integrate their Pantex and Y-12 processes. In one example, the sites standardized the annual security refresher briefing process, which had been a requirement for all Y-12 personnel even though DOE only required it for cleared personnel; both CNS sites now abide by the DOE guidance.
The National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Office of Planning and Programming will extend for one month and three weeks its contract with TechSource for technical support services for the agency’s Defense Programs office’s strategic plans.
The task order was awarded to TechSource in December 2013 and was due to expire Thursday with a ceiling of just over $1 million, according to the notice posted this week. The new contract modification will extend that through Feb. 12, 2017, increasing the total value to $1.1 million.
TechSource’s services include technical and research analysis; strategic communications; communication plans; and graphic design, in particular to help develop the NNSA’s fiscal 2018 Stockpile Stewardship and Management Plan and transition materials for the incoming presidential administration, the notice said.
Over the last several months the NNSA has extended contracts with TechSource for nuclear weapons policy advisory services, directed stockpile work management support systems, information and data management, nuclear science and engineering, and related topics.
The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is looking for U.S.-based entities that can help it attract and maintain nuclear experts in a talent pool supporting the U.S. nuclear enterprise. A sources sought solicitation released earlier this month is aimed at interested parties for a project that would involve “maintaining a smaller, but still vibrant, community of nuclear experts to support U.S. strategic nuclear capabilities.”
The solicitation comes amid ongoing concerns within the semiautonomous Department of Energy agency over maintaining scientific expertise throughout the nuclear weapons complex as the older generation’s technical experts approach retirement.
“Consequently, NNSA is seeking sources to attract and network individuals into the nuclear security program that otherwise might not have had the interest to explore opportunities or identify options for resolving nuclear security issues,” the announcement said. The project would involve creating a talent network through which NNSA could foster “new ideas in the nuclear security fields” and debate on nuclear weapons policy, it said.
The notice said interested entities would be responsible for building a network of young topic experts from the nuclear enterprise, the military, industry, academia, and nonprofits; developing among the next generation subject matter expertise and other relevant professional skills for nuclear policy roles; and mobilizing the expertise within that network to identify new ideas concerning nuclear weapons.
The solicitation may later result in a funding opportunity announcement, NNSA said. Capability statements are due by Dec. 31 by email to [email protected].
The Carnegie Corporation of New York has issued a call for proposals for research on technological advances that could threaten nuclear stability.
“With each major power investing heavily in nuclear and conventional modernization we are at the cusp of a new arms race, one that is especially hard to contain because the drivers of military advantage, from cyber to automation, are dual use and only partially controlled by governments,” the organization said in a press release.
As a result, Carnegie is ready to fund projects that examine emerging technologies “that might reshape the nuclear deterrence landscape, trigger an arms race, or increase the odds of a nuclear crisis,” it said. Examples of such technologies include drones, ballistic missile defenses, and cyber systems, along with “emergent capabilities” such as directed and space weapons, biotechnology, nanotechnology, and quantum sensors, according to Carnegie.
The organization in 1983 launched its Avoiding Nuclear War Program with the intent of building trust between Soviet and U.S. scientists and officials to prevent accidental warfare. During the fourth and final Nuclear Security Summit held earlier this year, Carnegie announced it would partner with the MacArthur Foundation to invest up to $25 million over the next two years in nongovernmental nuclear security programs.
Interested parties under the latest solicitation can request up to $500,000 for two years of work. Letters of inquiry with the proposal, methodology, and qualifications of those involved must be submitted by Feb. 1, 2017, by email to [email protected]. Applicants that receive top scores during the initial review will then be invited to submit full proposals for grants that will begin Oct. 1, 2017. The organization did not specify whether it would cap awardees at a certain number.
From The Wires
From the Los Angeles Times: Eliminating the word “limited” from the National Defense Authorization Act could have a drastic impact on U.S. nuclear defense doctrine.
From Politico: President-elect Donald Trump’s meeting Wednesday with senior military officers included officers charged with management of U.S. nuclear weapons and strategy.
