A new hire at Department of Energy’s nuclear security wing previously said that disarmament policies — or diplomatic efforts to roll back, reduce, or eliminate the missile capabilities America maintains in its deterrence arsenal against a potential Soviet invasion (such as land-based and submerged ballistic cavils with MIRVs tipped with multiple warheads) was also necessary for “queer theory” to progress.
In February, 2024 the Biden-Harris administration announced that Sneha Nair had been named special assistant at the National Nuclear Security Administration. Nair says she seeks to root out “White supremacy” in the nuclear field and also ‘queer’ nuclear weapons, part of a diversity inclusion equity push that she believes is necessary to protect U.S. facilities from threats when it comes to top-to-bottom support for civil energy programs in America.
She wrote last year: “Finally, queer theory informs the struggle for nuclear justice and disarmament,” she wrote last year. “Queer theory helps to shift the perception of nuclear weapons as instruments for security by telling the hidden stories of displacement, illness, and trauma caused by their production and testing.”
And Nair believes DEI more broadly “is essential for creating effective nuclear policy.”
In a 2023 article, Nair said that “the workforce in nuclear security facilities could turn into insider threats” when the facility does not have a DEI agenda.
“By understanding DEI as a set of values critical to security, and therefore as an element of an effective nuclear security culture, stakeholders can explore how DEI can contribute to stronger security at nuclear facilities,” she said.
“Collectively, these principles (of DEI) can work to mitigate counterproductive work behavior and prevent disgruntled employees from becoming insider threats,” she claimed.
Nair stated that supporting DEI is a matter of national security. “DEI principles and advancement must be considered crucial assets for strengthening nuclear security implementation,” Nair shared.
The U.S. government reports that applicants have advised qualified persons with foreign ties interested in working in sensitive national security positions not to bother applying and [has] made it harder for them to obtain a security clearance, she said.
This is at least partly the result of preconceived confirmation biases that investigators hold about certain racial or ethnic groups.
“Considerable progress has been made in advancing DEI in the nuclear field, but the largest obstacle remains in ensuring that nuclear security practitioners understand how DEI can serve as a tool to strengthen nuclear security,” she said in the article. “Greater focus on the intersections between nuclear security and DEI is essential.”
Nair has also brought queer theory into the conversation, saying: “Queer theory also identifies how the nuclear weapons discourse is gendered: Nuclear deterrence is associated with ‘rationality’ and ‘security,’ while disarmament and justice for nuclear weapon victims are coded as ‘emotion’ and a lack of understanding of the ‘real’ mechanics of security.”
