Blowback on the NNSA’s W76 problems

One additional note to add to the problems I wrote about earlier this week with the National Nuclear Security Administration’s program to refurbish the US stockpile of W76 nuclear warheads. The issue, discussed in a report from the Department of Energy’s Office of Inspector General, plays into a broader political/policy narrative that’s likely to play out in significant ways over the next year or two, regardless of who wins the White House and controls Congress – a broad frustration with NNSA’s ability to get its job(s) done in a timely and cost-effective way.

It’s highlighted by a note I got from Tom Crosson, spokesman for Rep. Mike Turner, the Ohio Republican who heads the House Strategic Forces Subcommittee:

This report comes as no surprise and highlights that NNSA has a major budgeting and management problem with the W76, and has no plan to address it. NNSA is failing to meet its core mission: to deliver nuclear warheads to the military. This is just one more indication that NNSA–as a whole–is irredeemably broken and in desperate need for reform.

The note didn’t make it in time for my deadline for the story, but seemed worth sharing.