Heinrich warns NNSA will be on ‘auto-pilot’
Trump team hasn’t asked top nuclear security officials to stay on
SANTA FE — U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico says President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team has not asked the top officials of the National Nuclear Security Administration, which oversees the country’s national laboratories, to stay on until Trump names his own team.
“This will be the first time in NNSA’s 16-year history, through four different administrations, in which there will not be any continuity in leadership during a presidential transition,” Heinrich said in a letter he sent to Trump. He added that “we simply cannot afford to allow national security positions to effectively run on ‘auto-pilot.’ The responsibilities are too important.”
Political appointees in the federal government are typically asked to submit resignations when a new president is elected, but incumbents can be asked to remain on the job until the new president chooses to keep them or names replacements.
NNSA’s two top jobs are now held by administrator Lt. Gen. Frank G. Klotz and principal deputy administrator Madelyn Creedon. Hein-
rich, in his letter to Trump, said that as of Tuesday, Klotz and Creedon had not been asked to continue serving after Trump becomes president on Friday. In New Mexico, the Los Alamos and Sandia national labs are part of NNSA.
“I urge you to immediately notify and request high-ranking officials who are currently serving their country to continue serving for a limited amount of time until you nominate their successors,” Heinrich wrote to Trump. “... Unless directed otherwise by your transition team, our country will lack high-ranking officials in charge of critical responsibilities such as overseeing our nation’s nuclear stockpile and managing the strongest military in the world.” He also wrote that at the Department of Defense, “only six of 58 presidentially appointed Pentagon officials are known to have been asked to stay in their positions through the transition process.”
An NNSA spokeswoman referred questions to Trump’s transition team. The Journal submitted a query to the Trump team but hadn’t received a response by late Wednesday afternoon.