NucleCast

Dr. Brent Park is a physicist and a former government official; appointed to a position at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) – by the President and in just 6 weeks confirmed unanimously by the U.S. Senate on March 22, 2018. Brent develops policy and technology solutions to real world challenges by leading and coordinating R&D program-development efforts in high-performance computing, big data analytics and decision applications, cyber security, mechanical and electrical engineering, materials science and engineering, physical sciences, and nuclear science and engineering. Prior to joining NNSA, Brent served as Associate Laboratory Director at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and was the director of NNSA’s Remote Sensing Laboratory.

Episode 13 of NucleCast features the Honorable William C. Ostendorff! Bill Ostendorff has a distinguished career as an engineer, legal counsel, policy advisor, and naval officer. He currently serves as a nuclear industry adviser for several companies. In addition, he co-chairs a National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine Committee on Risk Analysis for Nuclear War and Nuclear Terror. He also serves as a member of the Intelligence Community Studies Board at the National Academies which advises the Director of National Intelligence on Science and Technology. He served as Principal Deputy Administrator at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) in the Bush administration (2007-2009) and as a Commissioner at the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (2010-2016) in the Obama administration.

Episode twelve of NucleCast features an interview with Jim Howe. Jim Howe has extensive experience in nuclear energy, national and homeland security, policymaking, and communications. He has spent the last 12 years working in the nuclear industry, where he was deeply involved in the deployment of state-of-the-art uranium enrichment technology. Jim has worked with a number of advanced reactor developers as they bring their technologies to market, and has collaborated with numerous partners in Congress, the executive branch, trade associations, and industry, in the U.S. and internationally.

Episode eleven of NucleCast has a very special interview with Brigadier General Stacy Jo Huser, the Principal Assistant Deputy Administrator for Military Application, National Nuclear Security Administration, Department of Energy, Washington, D.C. Where she assists the Deputy Administrator for Defense Programs to maintain the safety, security, and reliability of the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile.

Episode ten of NucleCast features Curtis McGiffin. Curtis is currently a Visiting Professor with the Department of Defense and Strategic Studies at Missouri State University where he teaches graduate and doctorate courses on deterrence and grand strategy. Previously, he was the Associate Dean of the School of Strategic Force Studies at the Air Force Institute of Technology, where he led a robust portfolio of USAF professional continuing education programs supporting the AF nuclear enterprise. He also has ~27 years of experience in the USAF as an aviator, commander, staff officer, and educator, most of which was supporting the USAF’s nuclear enterprise.

Episode nine of the series features the Honorable David J. Trachtenberg is Vice President of the National Institute for Public Policy, a nonprofit research center in Fairfax, Virginia. He was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on October 17, 2017 as Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy and served in this capacity until his retirement from government service in July 2019. Until January 2018, he also served as the Acting Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, the principal civilian adviser to the Secretary of Defense on policy matters. He was also the senior Department of Defense civilian official responsible for DoD policy on civilian casualties resulting from military operations.

Episode 8 of the NucleCast series features Patty-Jane Geller. Patty-Jane Geller is the Senior Policy Analyst for Nuclear Deterrence and Missile Defense at the Heritage Foundation’s Center for National Defense, where she conducts research, writes, and engages audiences on a variety of issues related to strategic forces.

Episode seven of NucleCast featuring Senator Kevin Cramer of North Dakota! Kevin Cramer was elected to the United States Senate on November 6, 2018 after serving three terms as North Dakota’s At-Large Member of the United States House of Representatives. He serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee and offers Senate perspectives on strategic nuclear modernization and deterrence.

The sixth episode of NucleCast stars David Cherington and Jeff Crater, co-founders and managing directors of the Advanced Nuclear Weapons Alliance

(ANWA) Deterrence Center. ANWA Deterrence Center raises awareness and educates about the modernization of the U.S. strategic nuclear deterrent. ANWA Deterrence Center is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.

Episode five of NucleCast features Dr. Brad Roberts, who has served as director of the Center for Global Security Research at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory since 2015. From 2009 to 2013, he was deputy assistant secretary of defense for Nuclear and Missile Defense Policy. In this role, he served as policy director of the Obama administration’s Nuclear Posture Review and Ballistic Missile Defense Review and led their implementation. Prior to entering government service, Dr. Roberts was a research fellow at the Institute for Defense Analyses and the Center for Strategic and International Studies, editor of The Washington Quarterly, and an adjunct professor at George Washington University. Between leaving the Office of the Secretary of Defense in 2013 and assuming his current responsibilities, Dr. Roberts was a consulting professor at Stanford University and William Perry Fellow at the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC). While at CISAC, he authored a book entitled The Case for US Nuclear Weapons in the 21st Century, which won the Choice Award for Outstanding Academic Title in 2016.