Kicking Tom D’Agostino on the way out the door

Tom D’Agostino

As Tom D’Agostino prepares to step down as head of the National Nuclear Security Administration, Diane Barnes at Global Security Newswire took a look this week at the many recent missteps by the agency of late, from the security problems at Y-12 in Tennessee to the rising costs of refurbishing the B61 nuclear bomb. Barnes quotes Energy Secretary Steven Chu’s statement lauding D’Agostino’s service, then launches into a critique of that which Chu left unsaid:

Chu’s statement did not mention that the veteran U.S. nuclear systems insider had presided over several high-profile embarrassments, including a July break-in at a bomb-grade uranium storage area of the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee; allegations of cheating on security exams by contract personnel hired to guard the same site; and a surge in expenses anticipated from refurbishing B-61 nuclear gravity bombs and building a new uranium processing plant.

What do you think? Does D’Agostino bear responsibility for the agency’s troubled recent history, or do the problems go deeper?