NUCLEAR TEST READINESS BRIEF TO THE FOSTER PANEL
Washington DC: National Nuclear Security Administration, Office of Defense Programs, Office of Defense Science, 2003. A unique CD, no indication of how many copies might have been made. CD in a paper envelop with clear plastic face. On this disc, entitled in sharpee 2/12/03 NNSA Test Readiness, is a 26 vugraph briefing with graphics that was given to the Foster panel. There are no distribution limitations on the outside of the disc or on any vugraphs contained therein. John Stuart Foster Jr. (born September 18, 1922) is an American physicist, best known as the fourth director of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and as Director, Defense Research and Engineering under four Secretaries of Defense and two Presidents. In 1952, Foster was recruited to Lawrence Livermore Laboratory by founder Edward Teller, and became a division leader in experimental physics. He was promoted to associate director in 1958, and director of the Livermore Laboratory and associate director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in 1961, in which positions he served until 1965. Foster was appointed director of defense research and engineering, a position then considered the number-three job in the Department of Defense, by Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara in October 1965. He continued in this position until June 1973, serving under Presidents Johnson and Nixon, and under Secretaries of Defense McNamara, Clifford, Laird, and Richardson. From 1973, Foster was vice president, science and technology of TRW, retiring in 1988. From 1973 until 1990, he was a member of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board. He was a long-serving member of the Defense Science Board, of which he served as chairman from January 1990 to June 1993. Foster continues to advise and mentor scientists at Livermore into the 2020s. From an Arms Control Association article found online: The Department of Energy submitted a report to the Senate Armed Services Committee on May 20 [2003] calling for the United States to shorten the time it would take to conduct a nuclear test to 18 months in order to provide a “reasonable level of flexibility” for the Bush administration. Congress requested the report in November 2002, instructing Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham to draw up plans that would enable the department to test within six, 12, 18, or 24 months. Currently, the United States can conduct a nuclear test within 24-36 months of a presidential directive to do so. Congress also asked Abraham to determine, in consultation with the secretary of defense, which readiness period would be optimal. The 18-month recommendation “reflects what is achievable and cost effective,” according to the report, which was prepared by the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), a semiautonomous agency within the Energy Department. The report indicated that 18 months is the minimum amount of time needed to evaluate a problem identified in the U.S. nuclear stockpile, propose a solution, and “execute a test that would provide the information needed to certify the ‘fix.’” The recommendation is “consistent with realistic testing schedules” established during previous U.S. nuclear testing, which ceased in 1992. By contrast, shortening test readiness to six or 12 months would require a “substantial diversion of personnel and facilities at the laboratories,” according to the report. That would “represent a major redirection of the stockpile stewardship program,” which is intended to maintain the nuclear arsenal in the absence of testing. Adopting a testing posture of a year or less would be “most relevant…[if] the President might direct that testing resume for political reasons.” The report also noted that the shorter readiness period would be considerably more expensive. The transition to shorten the current 24-36 month readiness posture, expected to take three years, is already underway. NNSA conducted an Enhanced Test Readiness Cost Study in July 2002 to determine the steps and funding required to shorten the readiness posture, and the Nuclear Weapons Council, a consultative group of officials from the Energy Department and the Pentagon, approved the plan to transition to an 18-month readiness window in September 2002, according to the report. The Bush administration asked for funds to begin moving to a shorter test readiness posture in its fiscal year 2004 budget request. Condition: Very good.
Keywords: Nuclear Weapons, Foster Panel, Congressional Report, Nuclear Test Readiness, Nevada Test Site, Underground Weapon Tests
[Book #88242]
Price: $125.00