Nickolas Roth

Makes one wonder if the Louvre has ever done security drills under realistic conditions. It sits in the heart of a major city—where security is complex. Hard not to think about that as some countries explore putting small modular reactors in dense urban areas.

There are other important lessons for nuclear security: The security system failed. Police were first notified by a cyclist going by, not by the museum. The museum cameras were in poor condition, which led to a delay in response. Classic complacency & weak org culture leading to bad security.

U.S. Navy found elevated plutonium in Bayview — S.F. says it was kept in the dark San Francisco officials say they weren’t told that the Navy detected plutonium at the Hunters Point Shipyard for 11 months.

Most important point: “Trust has been difficult to build again.” missionlocal.org/2025/10/navy...

Key details emerge in Louvre jewel heist as 5 more are arrested Key planning details have snapped into focus.

"Even so, she said the latest arrests did not uncover the loot." This is why nuclear security is so important: Once material is stolen, it is very hard to get back. www.pbs.org/newshour/wor...

I'd argue testing in the hands of anyone is a bad idea, but point well taken.

And has done so to the United States' advantage, even in a narrow military-technical sense.

Even if recent remarks on nuclear testing were ambiguous, their impact could be significant. The U.S. has not earned the benefit of the doubt—and even vague suggestions of renewed testing risk fueling alarm and mistrust.

Testing again would also be a domestic political mistake.
With weakened safeguards for public health and the environment, do we want to risk returning to the days of finding strontium-90 in baby teeth?
The people most harmed could be the very voters the administration depends on.

A U.S. nuclear test today would be a show of force at the expense of stability.
It would invite other countries to follow suit and erode confidence in the scientific foundation that keeps the US deterrent credible.

The U.S. does still test its nuclear weapons—by taking them apart, examining components, running experiments, and conducting non-nuclear tests. This is how we maintain confidence in the stockpile without explosions. Resuming explosive testing would undermine this practice.

In the 33 years before the U.S. halted nuclear testing in 1992, countries conducted over 1,000 tests. In the 33 years since? Roughly 20. The global moratorium—and the treaty backing it—has curbed both the spread and sophistication of nuclear weapons worldwide.

U.S. Officials Concede They Don’t Know Whereabouts of Iran’s Uranium Stockpile

My point exactly www.nytimes.com/2025/06/22/u...

“Uranium is not that difficult to come by, Jon, but enriching uranium up to the point of a nuclear weapon, that is what the president put a stop to last night.” They are obfuscating the difference between weapons grade and weapons-useable, making the attack seem more successful than it was.

“But what we know, Jon, is they no longer have the capacity to turn that stockpile of highly enriched uranium to weapons-grade uranium, and that was really the goal here.”

The answer is unnerving: “Well, we're going to work in the coming weeks. Yeah, Jon, we're going to work in the coming weeks to ensure that we do something with that fuel, and that's one of the things that we're going to have conversations with the Iranians about…”
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...

Full Episode: Sunday, June 22, 2025 Podcast Episode · This Week with George Stephanopoulos · 06/22/2025 · 53m

The administration is either downplaying the risk of unaccounted for weapons useable material in Iran or is unaware. From this morning’s interview with VP vance:

“The UN's Atomic Energy Watchdog said that Iran had 900 pounds of highly enriched uranium. Do we know what has become of that?”

US would assess nuclear waste, plutonium for reactor fuel under draft order Nuclear waste and radioactive plutonium would be assessed as a fuel for reactors under a draft executive order being considered by the administration of President Donald Trump on expanding nuclear power, moves opposed by nonproliferation experts.

Want to kill the nuclear renaissance? Tie it to costly, risky, and unnecessary separated plutonium. www.reuters.com/business/ene...

This is the Mona Lisa of my nuclear nightmares.

The Trump administration is proposing a 7% cut to Department of Energy Nonproliferation programs to fund unnecessary nuclear weapons programs. Doesn't sound like much, until you see the long term trend. Obsolescence by a thousand cuts, but the cuts began long before the 2nd Trump administration.

Trump Freeze on Aid to Nuclear Inspectors Undercuts His Iran Policy The president’s halt of foreign aid upended two U.S. programs that help the International Atomic Energy Agency find clues about Iran’s drive to build atomic bombs.

www.nytimes.com/2025/03/08/s...

Pentagon Cuts Threaten Programs That Secure Loose Nukes and Weapons of Mass Destruction Documents obtained by WIRED show the US Department of Defense is considering cutting up to 75 percent of workers who stop the spread of chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons.

"A 60 percent cut would be significantly more severe, according to the memo. It would fundamentally eliminate America’s role in preventing the spread of chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons..." www.wired.com/story/pentag...

"Two weeks after it was hit by a drone, Ukrainian firefighters are still trying to extinguish smouldering fires within the large structure built over the reactor destroyed in the 1986 Chornobyl nuclear accident..." www.iaea.org/newscenter/p...

Several administration officials tell workers not to reply to Musk email Leaders at defense and intelligence offices were particularly wary of Musk’s demand over the weekend asking workers to outline what they did last week.

Hard to tell the difference between DOGE & threat/adversary behavior. “Even if people don’t send classified information, the aggregation of all this information in one place would become classified information, which is a national security violation..." www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/...

Trump seeks greater control of independent regulators with his new executive order President Donald Trump is moving to give the White House direct control of independent federal regulators such as the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal C...

I can’t believe the next NTI Index might have to downgrade the United States for not having an independent nuclear regulator…😡 apnews.com/article/trum...

Opinion | DOGE’s incompetence is a threat to America’s nuclear safety The Trump administration is showing why chaos and nuclear weapons are not a good mix.

Many of those Elon Musk fired are part of the management team overseeing tens of thousands of scientists, engineers and technicians who build, maintain and guard the U.S. arsenal of some 5,000 nuclear weapons. Chaos and Nuclear Weapons are not a good mix. www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...

Opinion | DOGE’s incompetence is a threat to America’s nuclear safety The Trump administration is showing why chaos and nuclear weapons are not a good mix.

Great piece @joecirin.bsky.social: "Chaos & nuclear weapons are not a good mix. There are certainly savings to be found in the massive nuclear weapons complex...However, abruptly firing employees w/o cause & w/o a coherent plan is a recipe for disaster, not savings." www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...

Trump officials struggled to reinstate nuclear weapons staff after firing hundreds | CNN Officials backtracked on the terminations Friday after multiple members of Congress petitioned Energy Sec. Chris Wright to reverse course, explaining the dire national security implications.

When an adversary takes control or your org: “What do I do if someone with no need to know comes and says, ‘I need to see this file on Ukraine, or warhead design?’” an NNSA employee posed. “The idea of turning over sensitive or classified data versus losing your job? ” www.cnn.com/2025/02/17/c...

If DOGE Goes Nuclear The risk of messing with the wrong computer system

“Even the mere perception that DOGE was not minding proper security protocols could hinder the NNSA’s relationships with other countries, which are essential to its nonproliferation work.” www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...

USAID security officials on leave after refusing access to Musk allies Billionaire and Trump ally Elon Musk has been denigrating USAID, which is the world’s largest provider of food assistance.

What happens when this showdown occurs within USG organizations responsible for overseeing the world’s most dangerous technologies and materials? www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Independent nuclear waste board members asked to resign

The United States is the world’s largest economic and military power, not a social media platform. If you recklessly eliminate government jobs, you jeopardize lives, not just tweets. www.ans.org/news/2025-01...