Trump Just Dismissed the People in Charge of Maintaining Our Nuclear Arsenal

[Devil Child]

Source: Gizmodo

Between the Trump transition team’s infighting, incompetence, and high-profile resignations, any decisions that signaled even a modicum of stability for the country would come as a relief at this point. Unfortunately, the nascent Trump Administration isn’t inclined to calm anyone’s nerves. According to an official within the Department of Energy, this past Friday, the President-elect’s team instructed the head of the National Nuclear Security Administration and his deputy to clean out their desks when Trump takes office on January 20th.

The NNSA is the $12 billion-a-year agency that “maintains and enhances the safety, security, and effectiveness of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile.” It’s unclear when the two officials will be replaced.

Traditionally, all political appointees of an outgoing presidential administration turn in resignation letters effective on noon of inauguration day, January 20. But appointees in key positions—like the people who make sure our nukes work—are often asked to stay on in their roles until a replacement can be found and confirmed by the Senate, helping ensure a smooth transition and allowing our government to continue functioning. In fact, for the entirety of Obama’s first term and into part of his second, the NNSA Administrator remained a Bush appointee.

Trump, however, appears determined to immediately push out everyone who was appointed by Obama, regardless of whether or not he has anyone in line for the job. Or, as our source put it: “It’s a shocking disregard for process and continuity of government.”

Read more: http://gizmodo.com/trump-just-dismissed-the-people-in-charge-of-maintainin-1790908093

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The Great Purge continues. Making America Great Again by weakening the agency which oversees and maintains our nuclear arsenal. Trump's recklessness puts us all in greater danger.

[MBS]

1. Terrifying. n/t

[kimbutgar]

2. Don't worry Putin's guys are ready to step in on day one and take over the nuclear aresenal

After all they probably have been hacking into the system for years since the rethugs refused to fund upgrades.

I am beginning to think seriously the rethug party are sleeper cells of Russian influence.

[Orrex]

11. Once Trump's puppet government is installed...

They'll be in a position to give extensive access to US intelligence data, procedures and operatives, thereby permanently and irretrievably crippling the nation's defense strategy.


But by all means, the GOP Congress should repeal the ACA first, and maybe investigate Benghazi a few more times.

[WhiteTara]

47. Don't you mean Putin's puppet government?

Trump is the head puppet.

[hollowdweller]

63. Really. Is he really a Russian plant?

[kimbutgar]

64. I'm not allowed conjecture on a free forum of opinions?

[xor]

71. Well there's this...

[Baitball Blogger]

3. Yeah, I don't know about that meme that the military uses about protecting our freedoms

in the USA when conservatives voted in someone into office that is continually disarming us and making us vulnerable to our enemies.

[atreides1]

37. With the exception of WWII

When has the US military protected our freedoms?

[7962]

45. Without them, who would have stopped the Russians?

They would have had little opposition taking the rest of Europe or here if they wanted. Not to mention the Chinese

[Stellar]

4. WTF! Holy BeJeesus!!!

[Solly Mack]

5. Uh...that's not good.

To say the least.

[Achilleaze]

6. I feel a freakin evil, shrunken-soul Anti-Christ Republican APOCALYPSE coming on

[Big_K]

33. Yikes! I remember doing that

Cuban Missile Crisis, living in Jacksonville Florida, Naval Air Station about 3 miles across the St. Johns River from my elementary school, and Mayport, base of the 6th fleet at that time, about a 30 minute drive away.

We boys thought the dog tags we got were really cool. Like the ARMY! Of course, what's the main purpose of dog tags? Perhaps identifying the dead?

We brought gallon jugs of water and cans of diet meal replacement shakes to school, and did "drills" where Moms with station wagons were going to take us to safety in St. Augustine. Another 30 minute drive away, right down US 1.

Now I'm just gonna going to say fuck it and let the blast take me away.

[SnowCritter]

78. That was the first thing that came to mind

I, too, remember doing that in elementary school.

[MsInformed]

7. He's going to contract this out...

to Russian contractors.
The ones with the lowest bid and then he's not going to pay them.

[Renew Deal]

8. What happens if people choose not to resign?

[lastlib]

24. Komr-rade Nogudnik might JUST want to have a little *TALK* wid 'em.......

ifyagetmymeanin'..........

[tinrobot]

9. A man you can bait with a tweet" can't be trusted "with nuclear weapons...

You can't say we weren't warned.

Fuck everyone who voted for this dangerous clown... and all those who didn't vote.

[citizen blues]

19. Agreed!

And fuck everyone who threw away their votes. I didn't get to vote for who I wanted either.

But you can't say you weren't warned.

[heaven05]

10. HEY!!!

if the bombs, facilities using nuclear material(s) become unsafe, MILLIONS of americans wittingly or less rare unwittingly voted for this to happen, what's the big deal. We have a madman maniac for POTUS and now all of us have to just suck it up!!!!!!!!!

[Botany]

12. Jesus God this is really bad. Does Trump want to use a nuke?

"Several months ago, a foreign policy expert on the international level went to advise Donald
Trump. And three times [Trump] asked about the use of nuclear weapons. Three times he asked
at one point if we had them why can't we use them," Scarborough said on his "Morning Joe"
program.


http://www.cnbc.com/2016/08/03/trump-asks-why-us-cant-use-nukes-msnbcs-joe-scarborough-reports.html

[Crash2Parties]

67. He really IS Mark Hamill's Joker...

[Girard442]

14. Got to purge any possible refuseniks...

...who might go insubordinant when the orange man-baby throws a button-pushing tantrum.

[BainsBane]

16. He seems to want the country weak and vulnerable to attack

almost as if he's taking his marching orders from a hostile nation.

[colorado_ufo]

17. But Russia feels so much safer!

We can all be happy about that right?

[riversedge]

18. I see this move as part of his plan-to get his guys with minimal or NO vetting

IMHO!!



... But appointees in key positions—like the people who make sure our nukes work—are often asked to stay on in their roles until a replacement can be found and confirmed by the Senate, helping ensure a smooth transition and allowing our government to continue functioning. In fact, for the entirety of Obama’s first term and into part of his second, the NNSA Administrator remained a Bush appointee.



https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--6Fjcgrz7--/c_scale,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800/tjdejne8vvpon7nmzqhs.jpg

[haele]

53. What will happen is that the career people next in line will step up temporarily.

There will be a change notice in each department promulgated by the outgoing appointee - a "delegation of authority" that can be passed down to cover the period between the old boss and the new boss. It's something that typically happens over the holidays or when the appointee has to be out of office for a while, but I've seen official delegations last for as long as a year while the Government scrambles for a suitable replacement for a retiree at a high level.

The amount of immediate purging his administration would have to do to get "their people" in charge down the two or three levels to really ensure they change Federal policy in critical key departments with their people in charge in most of these departments would result in hundreds of thousands of people, if not closer to a million suddenly losing their jobs by the end of Q3 FY17. Everyone in the Country will have at least a personal relative or a relative of a friend affected.
This would be something that can't be hidden or explained away as "political/transitional business as usual". And what it would do to the economy would tank it.

So honestly, I'm not as concerned about the appointees as I am about the requests for the transition team on who is working what projects, or what positions they hold within the government. The first shows a petty temperament and a shallow understanding on how government works.
When they start looking at who's been doing the work as a career, at who has "corporate knowledge" of what is going on and how to get the projects completed and the service provided, then I really get worried.

Haele

[LiberalLoner]

60. +1

[TNNurse]

20. Perhaps he has already been working on a deal to sell them.

[Fast Walker 52]

21. No. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO.

Holy fuck

[barbtries]

22. i can't believe this is happening.

it gets a little more surreal every day.

[woodsprite]

23. I wouldn't be surprised, but I couldn't find this on any mainstream news site.

Don't know gizmodo's rep, other ones I found talking about it were political wire blog, and tree of liberty (ewww, I disinfected myself after visiting that site). Rawstory has it, but it was just a repost of gizmodo's article.

[JHan]

30. I wondered about that as well. Esquire is running it as well but using the qualifier "allegedly"...

Still, the fact it's entirely believable is what's frightening.

[NWCorona]

39. Gizmodo is pretty solid but I'm surprised that this isn't in the mainstream yet.

[pangaia]

25. PURGE is the operative word here.

As in everything he is doing.

He will install HIS goons// as do all dictators..

It is not the Russians I am so worried about now. It is HIM!!! And his gestapo!

[nancy1942]

26. They all appear to be the same; their allegiance is not to this country.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

27. Please explain to me how he has this power when Barack Obama is still president.

How is this possible.

[wordpix]

29. "when he takes office Jan. 20"

yes, he can fire anyone anytime after that.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

31. So, the OP's "just dismissed" is incorrect?

[NWCorona]

42. My take is that they were technically given a letter of severance.

[wordpix]

28. let's face it, Trump is an insane madman

[MBS]

32. " " " " n/t

[elmac]

34. Dr. Strangetrump

[Botany]

36. I guess I might as well start spending my 401K

[Vinca]

35. Maybe our nuclear arsenal is being gifted to Pootie.

[AwakeAtLast]

38. Scorching the Earth

Possibly literally.

[orleans]

40. i'm googling to try and find another source

such as washington post, nytimes, latimes, cnn (simply to corroborate & verify this story)

none have reported this that i can find

and if this story is true then wtf is wrong with these news outlets. you'd think something like this is rather fucking important and newsworthy

[redwitch]

49. I have been searching too.

And finding nothing to back up Gizmodo. I pray they are wrong!

[orleans]

74. and i found this tonight

that basically the story is bullshit
http://www.defensenews.com/articles/nnsa-denies-report-top-nuclear-officials-removed-by-trump-team

[NWCorona]

41. This is highly unusual because not including the backlog

A top secret security clearance takes a minimum of 4 months and up to a year.

[onenote]

44. The NNSA's administrator's office has been vacant for months in the past, but

the difference is that when it was vacant, you had an experienced Principal Deputy to fill the gap. If the story is correct and both the administrator and the principal deputy are being let go, that is a serious problem.

[world wide wally]

43. Trump is a fucking surrender monkey for God's sake

[Victor_c3]

46. It's starting to get very scary - fast

Dismissing nuke staff?!?! Using his personal security detachment instead of the Secret Service?!?!

This sounds like the beginning of the plot of one of those spy-action-war Clanceyesque novel.

He appoints people that will be loyal to him to control the nukes and he is surrounding himself with people loyal to him and not the constitution and the American people.

I'm not a person to get all worried about conspiracy nonsense, but things are shaping up to be very scary indeed.

[Turbineguy]

48. Open letter to DoD

Please do not give Trump access to the launch codes.

[lark]

50. Wonder if he's doing this at Putin's request.

He'd love to see our nukes mishandled and don the con is too stupid to realize why. He thinks that Putin is on his side, and that's just really scary.

[liberal N proud]

51. How long before he actually uses them?

[muriel_volestrangler]

52. The source later added, Im more and more coming around to the idea that were so very very fucked

Quote of the day.

[MBS]

54. yup, and I agree. n/t

[Glimmer of Hope]

55. What kind of fuckery is this? Waiting for a legit source but nothing would surprise me.

[kacekwl]

56. Seriously someone has to stop this .

This guy can't have this kind of power. The military took an oath to protect the country. If they don't have the power to stop this can't they file a lawsuit to tie his hands in court. Surely the Supreme Court will rule in the countrys interest. If not we have lost all hope.

[ffr]

57. We, the majority, got it right. But we'll go down with the minority's stupidity.

Fcuk me!

[Norbert]

58. You people carry on.

I live near GE Aircraft Engines, If all hell breaks loose GE will be a huge crater and I will be a pile of ash.

What a dumb shit he is.

[LiberalLoner]

59. Look, this is not anything to worry about, according to my husband who

Is relatively high up in the chain of command for NNSA. There are positions that are political appointees, and they always tender their resignations when a new President steps in. Yeah it might be nice to have a delay but nothing awful is going to happen in the meantime. People like my husband and his boss will step up to the plate and get the work done.

No worries, America. Not as far as the NNSA and it's mission are concerned, at least.

Lots of other things to worry about, but no need to worry about this one.

[Glimmer of Hope]

65. Thanks for the info! So many other things to worry about.

[bdamomma]

66. .................

oh geez, thanks so much for calming everyone's fear.

[Thor_MN]

61. Along with their resignations, they should tell him the nuclear launch code is 1 2 3 4 5

[FrodosNewPet]

68. But what if it really IS 12345?

[Thor_MN]

79. It may be the combination for his luggage...

[tavernier]

62. NNSA denies this.

States that Gizmodo article is false.

[Glimmer of Hope]

69. But even Teen Vogue is reporting this!

http://www.teenvogue.com/story/donald-trump-fires-top-officials-of-national-nuclear-security-administration

Anywho, here is a Business Insider report that cites the NNSA denial and why it doesn't make sense:

http://www.businessinsider.com/nuke-safety-leaders-allegedly-fired-by-trump-2017-1

[orleans]

70. can you put up some of the article? business insider won't let me read it n/t

[Glimmer of Hope]

72. Here you go:

"An anonymous NNSA official cited by Defense News denies Klotz and Creedon were dismissed. "There have been no discussions between the president-elect’s transition team and any of NNSA’s political appointees on extending their public service past Jan. 20," the official said.

If Klotz and Creedon were dismissed, it "doesn't make any sense," Joe Cirincione, president of the Ploughshares Fund (a global security foundation) and a nuclear policy expert, told Business Insider.

"It's another one of the unprecedented moves that Trump sees as a clean sweep but could be very bad for the country," Cirincione said. "You really don't want to strip away the senior management of your nuclear weapons without naming a replacement. The nukes are basically home alone if you do that.""

[orleans]

73. thank you n/t

[tavernier]

77. I only went by the official NNSA site article.

I would link, but my phone is not agreeable today. But easy to google.

[area51]

75. I have doubts America as we know it can survive Trump

Trump is the most corrupt president in US history.

[democratisphere]

76. The ultimate conman is now in charge of the WMDs.

Isn't this what we have always tried to prevent and stop at all costs?

[DeminPennswoods]

80. political appointees come and go

They are barely relevent to the operation or function of federal agencies.