Latest news with #DavisWinkie
The Herald Scotland
24-05-2025
- Business
- The Herald Scotland
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, permitting to change via Trump order
According to a senior White House official, the four executive orders aim to expedite reactor research & development, streamline regulations to allow the Pentagon and other agencies to build reactors on federally owned land, change the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and sets new timelines for its consideration of construction permits, and expand domestic uranium production and enrichment capabilities. The NRC has overseen commercial nuclear reactors for 50 years since its creation in 1975. Amid concerns over overregulation, the U.S. has only two operational commercial reactors whose construction was approved since 1978. Joe Dominguez, the CEO of Constellation Energy, an electric utility company, said at the ceremony that "some of the largest companies in the world ... who need this energy for AI ... are now working with us to fund the development and construction of the next generation (of) nuclear." Dominguez, whose company operates the country's largest fleet of nuclear power plants, argued nuclear energy is best-suited to support AI data center needs due to its consistent, around-the-clock nature. Former Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, who today heads the Nuclear Threat Initiative and Energy Futures Initiative - organizations that work to reduce the risk of nuclear catastrophe - said the moves could increase safety or security risks. "Reorganizing and reducing the independence of the NRC could lead to the hasty deployment of advanced reactors with safety and security flaws," Moniz, a nuclear physicist who served under President Barack Obama, said. In a May 23 statement anticipating the executive orders, Moniz described "scaling safe and secure nuclear energy" as a "welcome contribution," but cautioned that doing so recklessly could "set back nuclear energy for a long time." If you have news tips related to nuclear threats and national security, please contact Davis Winkie via email at dwinkie@ or via the Signal encrypted messaging app at 770-539-3257. Davis Winkie's role covering nuclear threats and national security at USA TODAY is supported by a partnership with Outrider Foundation and Journalism Funding Partners. Funders do not provide editorial input.
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Price of US nuclear weapons jumps 25% to nearly $1 trillion by 2034, budget office says
The price to maintain and modernize America's nuclear weapons continues to rise, according to a report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. According to the April 24 report, U.S. taxpayers will pay approximately $946 billion over the next decade to sustain, operate, and modernize the country's nuclear weapons; its fleet of bombers, submarines and missiles designed to deliver the weapons; and related support and production infrastructure. The projection is 25% − or $190 billion − higher than the CBO's last ten-year cost estimate, which covered 2023 to 2032. More than half of the increase is due to cost overruns, the CBO said. The office pointed to the new Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile project as a major driver of the jump, in addition to smaller increases in other programs and weapons production facilities run by the National Nuclear Security Administration. Advocates for fewer nuclear weapons pointed to the estimate as a warning about the potential consequences of allowing arms control agreements to quietly expire. But supporters of nuclear modernization contend the U.S. needs an updated arsenal to compete with Russia and China on an increasingly unstable world stage. In a statement, Arms Control Association executive director Daryl Kimball argued the "skyrocketing costs" of the nuclear arsenal are likely to "go even higher." He highlighted that the CBO estimate does not fully account for recently assessed cost increases to the Sentinel program; a mandatory review in 2024 revealed an 81% increase in the program's price tag. Kimball said the administration of President Donald Trump should engage China on arms control and take action to maintain nuclear weapons deployment limits set by the New START treaty with Russia, which expires in early 2026. "Failure to do so will undermine U.S. and global security and could mean that more taxpayer dollars are wasted on weapons of mass destruction rather than programs that meet real human needs," he argued. The CBO bases its estimates on agency budget proposals and accounts for slight cost overruns that align with an agency's historical patterns. The nuclear arsenal and its associated costs represent a growing share of the nation's defense budget, which could soon hit $1 trillion a year. The CBO estimates nukes will account for 8.4% of national defense spending between 2025 and 2034, a significant increase compared with 3.9% in the 2014 defense budget. If you have news tips related to the U.S. nuclear arsenal, please contact Davis Winkie via email at dwinkie@ or via the Signal encrypted messaging app at 770-539-3257. Davis Winkie's role covering nuclear threats and national security at USA TODAY is supported by a partnership with Outrider Foundation and Journalism Funding Partners. Funders do not provide editorial input. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: US nuclear weapons get more expensive: $1 trillion by 2034
USA Today
27-01-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
Combat unit ordered to prep for border as part of Trump deportation push
Combat unit ordered to prep for border as part of Trump deportation push | The Excerpt On Saturday's episode of The Excerpt podcast: USA TODAY White House and Pentagon Reporter Davis Winkie discusses how the military may be used for immigration purposes. The Senate votes to confirm Pete Hegseth as secretary of Defense. In his travels to disaster zones Friday, President Donald Trump again suggested abolishing FEMA. President Trump cancels Dr. Anthony Fauci's security detail. USA TODAY Managing Editor for Politics, Legal Affairs and World News Holly Rosenkrantz gives us an inside peek at how her team covered this historic week for news, as part of a new weekly segment called Editor's Note. Pandas Bao Li and Qing Bao make their U.S. debut. Listen to our deep dive episode on panda diplomacy here. Hit play on the player below to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript beneath it. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text. Podcasts: True crime, in-depth interviews and more USA TODAY podcasts right here Taylor Wilson: Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson, and today is Saturday, January 25th, 2025. This is The Excerpt. Today, taking a closer look at how Trump aims to use the military on the border. Plus, Pete Hegseth has been confirmed as Secretary of Defense and pandas make their public debut in Washington. ♦ Newark, New Jersey Mayor, Ras Baraka, said US immigration agents rounded up undocumented migrants as well as American citizens in a raid Thursday, just days after President Donald Trump issued a slew of executive orders that aim to clamp down on illegal immigration. In a raid of a business establishment in Newark, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents failed to produce a warrant as they detained undocumented residents as well as citizens, according to the Mayor. Meanwhile, one of the Pentagon's premier units has been ordered to prepare to be deployed to the southern border as part of Trump's increasing militarization of immigration. I spoke with USA Today, White House and Pentagon Reporter, Davis Winkie, to learn more. Davis, thank you so much for hopping on the show today. Davis Winkie: Thanks for having me, Taylor. Taylor Wilson: So let's just get to some of the basics here at the top. What is this combat unit and how will they be used as part of Trump's immigration push? Davis Winkie: So a little bit of background here, Taylor. The Trump administration in its early days has issued a flurry of orders and declarations that have made it possible for the military to potentially be more involved with immigration enforcement at the border. It's not unprecedented, it's not new necessarily. Trump in fact, inherited a 2,500 soldier border mission from the Biden administration, but he's taking actions to expand it, to include earlier this week, committing an additional 1,500 active duty troops to assist customs and border protection there. What we learned about potential expanded deployments recently, however, is where things start to get interesting, the Army issued a series of what's called warning orders to specific units that we reported, myself and Tom Vanden Brook, and then also our colleague at the Washington Post, Dan Lamothe had a good story on this as well, where the 10th Mountain Division headquarters was alerted about potentially deploying to the border. It's not guaranteed yet, but the fact that the conversation has started about it can help us potentially divine a little bit about the administration's intentions for this mission. Taylor Wilson: Okay, good explainer there. Just legally, Davis, what role can the military actually play when it comes to immigration enforcement? What is Trump really allowed to pull off here? Davis Winkie: What the military can do at the border depends on what kind of troops are there and the legal authority that they're acting under. There's two main types of military legal authorities. One of them is called Title 10. That's your active-duty military. That's what you traditionally think of as like the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, Marine Corps. Title 10 forces are not allowed to enforce domestic laws thanks to the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878. That was passed after reconstruction because Southerners were mad that the Army had crushed the first Ku Klux Klan and protected black voters, believe it or not. The Posse Comitatus Act is pretty strong and keeps active-duty troops from being able to do hands-on arrests per se, but active-duty members, however, are and previously have supported border patrol or customs and border protection through providing logistical support, flying helicopters for them, doing security camera monitoring or lookout jobs, doing intelligence analysis. That's what your active-duty folks can do. That might change if the president were to invoke the Insurrection Act, which allows those troops to then take on a law enforcement role, but that hasn't happened to this point. There's also what's called Title 32 forces, which is when your National Guard service members remain under their state's control, but the Feds are paying the bill. Those military service members are able to directly enforce domestic laws because legally speaking, they're acting in their capacity as state militia members rather than as federal military members. That is really, a callback to the way that our Constitution was designed by giving these states militias that were initially intended to counterbalance the central power of a federal government. But nowadays, the National Guard is really a part-time but highly professional fighting force that just has to wear two different hats depending on who's paying the bill or who's calling the shots. Taylor Wilson: That's excellent insight there, Davis. Just in terms of where we go from here, I know we've seen this flurry of actions from Trump here at his first five days in office. What's the expectation for this coming week when it comes to immigration and deportations? And we know things are just quickly moving, where do we go from here? Davis Winkie: Yeah, I think the important thing for our listeners to understand is that the Trump administration is very good at optics and messaging. They are going to do a lot of high-profile enforcement actions, such as raids and such, most likely, and they're going to find ways to publicize them. For example, there was a raid in Boston earlier this week that a Fox News reporter, he did an exclusive ride-along with ICE and had a lot of access to document what was happening there. But while the administration will want to give the impression that this is a massive escalation in enforcement, it's important for our listeners to keep in mind that the deportation machine was running even before Trump took office. It just may find a new gear as the Trump administration uses the emergency declarations and other authorities to try to expand the capacity to do it quicker. Taylor Wilson: All right. Davis Winkie covers the White House and Pentagon for USA Today, with a great explainer for us here on the show. Thank you, Davis. Davis Winkie: Thanks again. Taylor Wilson: For more on immigration and the border under the new Trump administration, be sure to tune in tomorrow morning to hear USA Today National Reporter, Lauren Villagran, in conversation with my colleague, Dana Taylor, to dig into all of the other developments this week related to immigration and the border. Lauren Villagran: A lot of fear among children who worry that when they get home from school, their mom or dad, or both, might not be there. Taylor Wilson: You can find that episode right here beginning at 5:00 AM Eastern Time tomorrow. ♦ The Senate yesterday confirmed Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense. President Donald Trump's nominee fended off allegations of sexual assaults, public drinking and intoxication and abusive treatment of women. A former Fox News host and military veteran, Hegseth secured support from all but three Republicans to win confirmation with a 51 to 50 vote, with Vice President, JD Vance breaking the tie. Hegseth will now take charge of the nation's largest government agency with 3,000,000 service members and civilians, and an $850 billion budget under the Pentagon's authority. ♦ On his first trip as president yesterday, Trump ratcheted up his criticism of the Federal Emergency Management Agency with a suggestion to possibly abolish the agency because of its response to Hurricane Helene in September. After a briefing in Fletcher, North Carolina, Trump said, "I'll also be signing an executive order to begin the process of fundamentally reforming and overhauling FEMA, or maybe even getting rid of FEMA." Trump accused FEMA crews of being unfamiliar with areas when responding to disasters. FEMA also imposes rules and requirements on crews that are not as good as what local officials provide, Trump said. He added that the federal government should instead send funding to governors to manage their own response to disasters. ♦ President Trump announced yesterday that he had canceled the federal security detail for Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former head of the National Institute for Allergies and Infectious Disease. Trump said the security detail for the 84-year-old immunologist and former Chief Medical Advisor to former president, Joe Biden, was removed Thursday because it cannot last a lifetime and Fauci could hire his own protection, according to Trump. A doctor for the National Institutes of Health for more than half a century, Fauci led the federal health response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to harsh criticism from some Republicans about studies of the origin of the disease and the response to fight it during the first year. Fauci previously said he and his family had received threats throughout the pandemic, including death threats. ♦ It's obviously been a historic week for news as President Donald Trump returned to the White House following his inauguration on Monday. You've heard from so many of our great political reporters this week on the show as they covered the early days of Trump 2.0. So we wanted to peel back the curtain and talk with an editor, to take a look at how some of these journalistic decisions were made. It's part of a new series we're bringing you every Saturday called Editor's Notes. This week, I'm joined by Managing Editor for Politics, Legal Affairs and World News, Holly Rosenkrantz. Holly, thank you so much for joining me today on The Excerpt. Holly Rosenkrantz: You're welcome. I'm glad to be here. Taylor Wilson: Yeah. Well, big week, Holly. This first week of the new Trump administration is in the books, if you don't count Saturday, I guess. The reporters I've spoken with tell me it was a crazy busy one. I'm just curious what it's been like from an editorial perspective, and I guess Holly, how would you say this administration differs from other presidential first weeks? Holly Rosenkrantz: It's been intense. There has been a fire hose of news on all topic areas, and it differs in that it feels like the administration is really coming in hot, trying to make their mark, make statements with big ideas, big executive order, big policy changes. Just like we saw with Trump's nominations during the transition to his Cabinet, they want to make a statement. They want to go big. So this is not a soft landing. They are trying to let their supporters and all voters know that they intend to have this be a historic and monumental presidency. So I'd say the difference is the intensity, the level of intensity, and as you know, Trump is a president unlike others. So all these big changes are outside the norms of what Washington and what politics in general are used to. Taylor Wilson: Right. Well, I know you came into the week, Holly, I'm sure with a very set plan and some set goals to accomplish, but as we know in this industry, curveballs can come. What were some of the specific challenges maybe you and your team faced this week? Holly Rosenkrantz: On day one, it was hard to game out when the news was going to happen and what it was going to look like. The new administration briefed reporters on Monday morning, even before the inauguration, about some of the big executive orders they were planning to unveil on day one. So we were able to prepare news alerts, pre-writes, stories. We knew it would come on day one, possibly day two, but we didn't know when. Trump is not a president who works banker's hours. He likes to do things in the evening and late. So we thought everything would happen by the time he went to the inaugural balls. We said, "That's our deadline," but it didn't work that way. The executive orders were being rolled out well into the night. They also didn't come in the order we anticipated it. So there was a lot of ripping up the stories, changing the top, changing the headlines. Taylor Wilson: Well, as we know, President Trump called out the media as fake news often in his first term, that disparagement is continuing in his second term. This has really been a constant from him. At the same time, Holly, public trust in the news media is at an all-time low. Are there particular things you and your team are doing to try to build back that public trust? Holly Rosenkrantz: USA Today is really proud of the fact that we are viewed as the nation's newspaper. We are not viewed by the public as leaning one way or another, and in our coverage, we work really hard to avoid tone, agenda. We really rely on our audience trust in us. So that means sometimes avoiding loaded adjectives and adverbs, in favor of more straightforward nouns and verbs, avoiding speculation. We have very strict sourcing policy, which is stricter than a lot of our competitors for unnamed sources. In general, we're just very fact forward. We avoid a lot of expert-said stories because experts come from a political spectrum as well. We're really fact-based news. Taylor Wilson: A lot of political enterprise reporting depends on access, but based on what we saw this last week, and certainly in the previous Trump administration, that kind of access is rare. Reporter favoritism was a challenge during Trump's first administration. Holly, how can USA Today reporters ensure they're in the room, so to speak, without compromising their integrity? Holly Rosenkrantz: Some of it starts with the relationships that began during the campaign. One of our top Trump reporters came from a Florida paper, so he has relationships built up with the Trump campaign, and it's obviously a challenge. You want access, but you don't want to be in the tank for the person you're covering. I know this sounds naive, but the best way is to demonstrate good work. So the main thing, the challenge before us is to farm all our reporters out to their different subject areas and just build relationships with the policymakers, the people behind the scenes. It won't be easy, obviously, but that's the challenge ahead of us. Taylor Wilson: Fascinating next four years. USA Today Managing Editor for Politics, Legal Affairs and World News, Holly Rosenkranz, joining us here on the show. Thank you, Holly. Holly Rosenkrantz: You're welcome. ♦ Taylor Wilson: Bao Li and Qing Bao, the latest pandas loaned by China as part of its decades-long panda diplomacy program, made their public debut yesterday at the Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington. The three-year-old pandas arrived in Washington in October after a 19-hour flight aboard the so-called FedEx Panda Express from Chengdu in China's Sichuan province. They replaced three other pandas who returned to China when their lease expired in November of 2023. You can learn more about panda diplomacy with our special deep dive episode from last year. We have a link in today's show notes. ♦ And thanks for listening to The Excerpt. You can get the podcast wherever you get your audio, and if you're on a smart speaker, just ask for The Excerpt. I'm Taylor Wilson, and I'll be back Monday with more of The Excerpt from USA Today.
