The Vice President had an in-person briefing with the three directors of our national nuclear laboratories last week. The discussion is said to have focused on the future of nuclear weapons policy, the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and the vitality of the NNSA laboratories We have previously pointed out that these directors wear two hats – one as director of their respective Lab and the other as president of a for-profit corporation with the contract to manage that Lab.
The directors receive approximately half of their compensation from the government as director and half from their corporation as president. The corporations managing the Labs stand to receive huge award fees annually. It is reasonable to question if ensuring that their corporations receive ever-larger awards motivates the advice offered by these fellows on nuclear weapons policy.
Is their conditional support of CTBT predicated on enshrining modernization of nuclear weapons and weapons complex first? Who benefits the most from the federal spending that goes to fund the large budgets of the complex – the nation or corporations? When the Labs’ leaders bend the ear of the Vice President, which hat are they talking out of?
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