Hands-On Leader Urged for NNSA

WASHINGTON — The four Democrats in New Mexico’s congressional delegation on Friday sent a letter to President Barack Obama asking him to nominate a hands-on leader to run the National Nuclear Security Administration, which oversees the nation’s nuclear weapons complex.

“The NNSA has recently suffered from a series of ongoing management, security and budgetary problems and effective new leadership is needed now to restore the confidence of the public and of their representatives in Congress,” the letter said. “We believe there is an opportunity now to make substantial improvement in NNSA’s management and oversight responsibilities, and we urge you to nominate someone with the leadership ability to help guide the transformation.”

The letter emphasized a need to maintain adequate budgets for LANL and Sandia “in light of current federal budget constraints to support and grow the missions of the labs, maintain a strong employee workforce and complete environmental cleanup.”

Pearce did not sign the letter. A new NNSA administrator must be nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. Acting Administrator Neile L. Miller took over the position after Thomas P. D’Agostino’s retirement in January.
— This article appeared on page C2 of the Albuquerque Journal