NucleCast

Tomás Díaz de la Rubia is a science and technology leader, strategist and administrator with extensive experience in government, academia and the private sector. At present, Tomas is the Vice President for Research and Partnerships at the University of Oklahoma. In this capacity, he leads OU’s efforts to enhance the scale and scope of the university’s research enterprise, and to develop a new stra...

This is a special one hour episode with Dr. Lani Kass, Senior Advisor for Center for American Defense Studies and Senior Fellow at The Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. From December 2011 to January 2020, Dr. Kass served as Senior Vice President and Corporate Strategic Advisor at CACI. In 2014, she was elected to the Board of Women in Aerospace (WIA) and in 2016, sworn in as a member of th...

Marc Wortman, PhD, is an independent historian and freelance journalist. He is the author of four books on American military and social history, most recently Admiral Hyman Rickover: Engineer of Power (Yale University Press, 2022), which was named a National Review Book of the Year and received an honorable mention for the John Lyman Award in biography from the North American Society for Oceanic H...

Dr. Rajeswari (Raji) Pillai Rajagopalan is the Director of the Centre for Security, Strategy & Technology (CSST) at the Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi. She is also a Senior Fellow at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) in Canberra . In 2020, she was Co-chair for a thematic group on “Strategic Technologies” for Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy (STIP 2020) work, a...

For the past 40 years, Tom Ramos has been a physicist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) . For the past few years Tom has been conducting research and writing a history of the early years of the Cold War, and the nuclear weapons program of LLNL. Through interviews with historical figures and with extensive research into top secret archives, he has brought out new perspectives of...

For the past 40 years, Tom Ramos has been a physicist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) . For the past few years Tom has been conducting research and writing a history of the early years of the Cold War, and the nuclear weapons program of LLNL. Through interviews with historical figures and with extensive research into top secret archives, he has brought out new perspectives of...

As Raft’s Senior Director of Data and AI, Angela Sheffield leads programs to build software, data, and AI solutions to deliver information and decision dominance in all operations conditions and all warfighting domains. Before joining Raft, Ms. Sheffield served as the Senior Program Manager for AI at the Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation Research and Development, National Nuclear Security...

Dr. Howard Hall is the Director for the UT Institute for Nuclear Security . He holds a joint appointment with Consolidated Nuclear Security (Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, TN, and the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, TX) , and serves as Professor in both the Department of Nuclear Engineering and the Bredesen Center For Interdisciplinary Research and Graduate Education . Professor Hall is al...

James Stemm has been Curator at the National Museum of Nuclear Science & History since 2021. He began his museum career in 1996 working with the Pima Air & Space Museum in Tucson, Arizona as the museum’s Registrar. He remained at Pima for the next twenty-five years while holding several jobs in the museum’s Collections Department including Assistant Curator, Curator of Collections, and Dir...

Frank Lowery is the Associate Administrator for Management and Budget , National Nuclear Security Administration , where he oversees the offices of Budget and Financial Management, Human Resources, Business Services, Employee Empowerment, Learning and Career Management , and International Operations . A member of the Senior Executive Service in NNSA since March 2012, he has also served as the Depa...

Matthew Costlow is a Senior Analyst at the National Institute for Public Policy . His areas of expertise are in nuclear deterrence, missile defense policy, arms control, and Russian and Chinese nuclear doctrine. His work has been published by Comparative Strategy, Strategic Studies Quarterly, and the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. He has also published numerous opinion pieces in the Institutes...

Maj Gen (Ret), USAF, Garrett Harencak is the President and CEO of Mission Support and Test Services, LLC (MSTS) . Harencak joined Mission Support and Test Services, LLC after nearly four years as Vice President of Strategic Defense Programs for Jacobs Engineering. While at Jacobs, he also served as Deputy Program Manager of the Missile Defense Agency Integrated Research and Development for Enterpr...

James McCue is a career helicopter pilot having performed all three USAF rotary wing missions; nuclear security, combat search and rescue, continuity of government. He has earned his undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering and masters studies with the Air Force Institute of Technology, Emby Riddle, Missouri State University, and a fellowship with the National Defense University's C-WMD prog...

Thomas (Thom) Mason is the President and CEO of Triad National Security, LLC (Triad) and serves as the Director of Los Alamos National Laboratory . Most recently he was the Senior Vice President for Global Laboratory Operations at Battelle where he had responsibility for governance and strategy across the six National Laboratories that Battelle manages or co-manages. Prior to joining Battelle, Tho...

Christopher Stone is a senior fellow for space deterrence studies at the National Institute for Deterrence Studies think tank. He previously served as special assistant to the deputy assistant secretary of defense for space policy. EPISODE NOTES: Follow NucleCast on Twitter at @NucleCast Email comments and story suggestions to NucleCast@anwadeter.org Subscribe to NucleCast podcast Rate the show

With nearly 53 years living and working in Oak Ridge, TN , Ray Smith has developed an extensive understanding and appreciation of the heritage of Oak Ridge’s history, especially the Manhattan Project era and resulting technological advances during ensuing years. For the last 10 years of his 47-year career with the Y-12 National Security Complex , he served as the official Y-12 Historian. Ray now s...

Dr. John Swegle works as an independent consultant through the National Strategic Research Institute at the University of Nebraska on issues related to the effects of nuclear weapons and proliferation on US national security. Immediately prior to that, he was a Senior Advisory Scientist at the Savannah River National Laboratory in Aiken, South Carolina. He began his career at Sandia National Labor...

With nearly 53 years living and working in Oak Ridge, TN , Ray has developed an extensive understanding and appreciation of the heritage of Oak Ridge’s history, especially the Manhattan Project era and resulting technological advances during ensuing years. For the last 10 years of his 47-year career with the Y-12 National Security Complex , he served as the official Y-12 Historian. Ray now serves...

Dr. Matthew Kroenig is Vice President and Senior Director of the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security and the Council’s Director of Studies. In these roles, he manages the Scowcroft Center’s bipartisan team of more than thirty resident staff and oversees the Council’s extensive network of nonresident fellows. His own research focuses on US national security strategy, strat...

Lieutenant General In-Bum Chun (ROK, Ret) served his country with both honour and integrity for nearly four decades. Chun retired in 2016 after distinguished service in the South Korean Army . During his military career which started in 1978 at the Korea Military Academy he ascended to positions of leadership that included, the Chief of the Election Support Branch, Civil Military Affairs/Strategic...

This is the first episode in ANWA Deterrence Center's Legacy Series where we look back at the Manhattan Project and the evolution over 80 years of the U.S. strategic nuclear deterrent. Darwin Morgan retired as Director, Office of Public Affairs, Nevada Field Office, National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) In March 2021. In retirement he serves as the President of the Nevada Test Site Histo...

Colonel Glen R. Shilland assumed the duties of United States Air Attaché to the Republic of Korea in 2019. Colonel Shilland entered the Air Force as a Distinguished Graduate of Officer Training School . In his first assignment as a satellite operations officer at Colorado Springs, Colorado, he performed command and control for surveillance, weather, and navigation spacecraft. He became a B-52H nav...

Dr. Wallace T. (Wally) Clark III retired as a civilian employee of the United States Air Force in November2020. Currently, he is a Senior Fellow at the National Institute for Deterrence Studies and via Banda GroupInternational , he a Senior Technical Adviser on Nuclear Explosive Safety to the NNSA . Among Dr. Clark’s numerous positions in his 40+-year career are: ultra-high vacuum scientist at the...

David Schild is Executive Director of the Printed Circuit Board Association of America . An established leader and trusted advocate, he has over 20 years of experience managing political involvement, corporate public relations and public policy efforts for the aerospace and defense industry. EPISODE NOTES: Follow NucleCast on Twitter at @NucleCast Email comments and story suggestions to NucleCast@...

Raphael "Rafi" Cohen is the director of the Strategy and Doctrine Program of RAND Project AIR FORCE , and a senior political scientist at the RAND Corporation . He works on a broad range of defense and foreign policy issues, including defense strategy and force planning, Middle East and European security and civil-military relations. Cohen previously held research fellowships at the Brookings Inst...