That the Department  of Energy runs the nation’s nuclear-weapons labs and the safeguards program.

A central mission of the nation’s weapons laboratories is to ensure that the country’s nuclear weapons still work if needed. To do that, the government has long relied on a program that avoids the need for underground testing, instead using data from supercomputers and laboratory experiments and inspecting the warheads.

In fact, weapons programs account for more than half of the Energy Department’s $30 billion budget.

Some nuclear analysts say that the Trump administration is likely to face decisions that could upend the bomb program, leading to a resumption of testing and perhaps a new global arms race if they are mishandled. 

The current head of the DOE is Ernest Jeffrey Moniz, an American nuclear physicist, serving under U.S. President Barack Obama since May 2013. Moniz attended Boston College, where he received his Bachelor of Science summa cum laude in physics. He received his PhD in theoretical physics from Stanford University.  Moniz joined the faculty of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1973, serving as head of the Department of Physics from 1991 to 1995 and as director of the Bates Linear Accelerator Center. He co-chairs the MIT research council.

 He served as the Associate Director for Science in the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President of the United States from 1995 to 1997 and was Under Secretary of Energy from 1997 to 2001 during the Clinton Administration.

Moniz is one of the founding members of The Cyprus Institute and has served at Massachusetts Institute of Technology as the Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics and Engineering Systems, as the Director of the Energy Initiative, and as the Director of the Laboratory for Energy and the Environment.

In January Moniz will be replaced by Rick Perry, the former governor of Texas.
Perry attended Texas A&M University where he was a member of the Corps of Cadets; he was elected senior class social secretary, and one of A&M's five yell leaders-students that lead Aggie fans in a series of "yells" during athletic events or other school events. He graduated in 1972 with a Bachelor of Science in Animal science. 

Rick Perry has a pair of cowboy boots named "Freedom", and "Liberty" 


Rick Perry, as Energy Secretary, May Be Pressed to Resume Nuclear Tests
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/27/us/politics/trump-rick-perry-nuclear-weapons.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news

Last edited by Goose (12/28/2016 12:28 pm)