Defense & Intelligence Policy, Business and Technology

Trump announces pick for nuclear weapons czar

Federal Times: WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump has announced his intent to nominate Lisa Gordon-Hagerty as undersecretary for nuclear security at the Department of Energy, the top job for managing America’s arsenal of nuclear warheads.

The job includes filling the role of administrator for the National Nuclear Security Administration, a semiautonomous department within the Department of Energy. While the Defense Department manages the delivery systems of the nuclear force — ships, planes and missiles — NNSA has oversight over the development, maintenance and disposal of nuclear warheads.

The agency is currently run by Frank Klotz, the retired Air Force general who has been in the job since 2014. Klotz is the rare Obama-era appointee who was kept on when the Trump administration took office, although not without drama; after initial media reports that Klotz had been asked to resign during the transition, incoming Secretary of Energy Rick Perry reversed that decision and asked Klotz to remain in place.

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