Federal agency overseeing US nuclear stockpile will furlough most of its workforce starting Monday   

René Marsh and Ella Nilsen | CNN 

The federal agency responsible for overseeing and modernizing the US nuclear stockpile will furlough the vast majority of its staff Monday as the government shutdown drags on, according to the Department of Energy. About 1,400 employees at the National Nuclear Security Administration, or NNSA, will receive furlough notices Monday, while fewer than 400 employees will remain on the job to safeguard the stockpile, Energy Department spokesperson Ben Dietderich told CNN. 

Iran supreme leader on Trump nuclear destruction claim: ‘Keep dreaming’ 

Laura Kelly | The Hill  

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Monday countered President Trump’s claims that a U.S. strike in June destroyed Iranian nuclear facilities. “The US President boasts that they’ve bombed and destroyed Iran’s nuclear industry. Very well, in your dreams!” Khamenei said in a post on social platform X. Posts on Khamenei’s account also criticized Trump’s brokering of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and rejected talks with the U.S. over Iran’s nuclear program. 

UN nuclear watchdog believes most of Iran’s enriched uranium unharmed by war with Israel 

Times of Israel  

The head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog revealed last week that the body believes that most of Iran’s supply of enriched uranium survived the country’s 12-day war with Israel back in June, and is still being kept inside the damaged nuclear facilities. Rafael Grossi, the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told the Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung in an interview published on October 18 that the UN body’s findings suggest that “the majority” of Iran’s 60% enriched uranium “remains in the nuclear facilities in Isfahan and Fordo, and some in Natanz.” 

Trump backs AUKUS deal, pushing to expedite sub delivery to Australia 

Ashley Roque | Breaking Defense 

President Donald Trump threw his support behind the trilateral AUKUS agreement today, even suggesting the US is moving more quickly to provide nuclear-powered subs to Australia.  “The submarines that we’re building for Australia [are] starting to really move along,” Trump said sitting next to Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the White House. When asked if the US would want to expedite delivery of those subs, Trump said, “we’re doing that” but did not offer up a timeline.  

US Army’s first hypersonic battery to be fully equipped by December 

Jen Judson | Defense News 

The U.S. Army’s first unit to receive hypersonic weapons will get a battery’s worth of rounds by the end of the year, Maj. Gen. Frank Lozano, the service’s program executive officer for missiles and space, told Defense News in a recent interview. The first three missiles were distributed to the unit earlier this year, with the last of the munitions arriving in July. The fourth round is currently going through acceptance checkouts at Lockheed Martin’s facility in Cortland, Alabama, Lozano said. The final eight are expected to be delivered “by the end of December,” Lozano said. The Army is also aiming to conduct a hypersonic missile test around the same time. 

Anthropic Has a Plan to Keep Its AI From Building a Nuclear Weapon. Will It Work? 

Matthew Gault | Wired  

At the end of August, the AI company Anthropic announced that its chatbot Claude wouldn’t help anyone build a nuclear weapon. According to Anthropic, it had partnered with the Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to make sure Claude wouldn’t spill nuclear secrets. ... Experts are divided on whether it’s a necessary protection—or a protection at all.