>>22343372
My junior year at Penn State, the program called Naval Reactors had contacted
20 me and recruited me to become either a NUPOC instructor at Nuclear Power School or go
21 to Nuclear Reactors and do design engineering for the Navy.
22 I signed a contract with the U.S. Navy that obligated me to be commissioned upon
23 graduation and go directly to Nuclear Power School and be certified to teach both
24 enlisted and officers about nuclear power and naval reactors.
25 Q What does Nuclear Power School entail?
A Okay. So, for everyone in the room, I encourage you to understand it. In
2 my opening statement, I referenced it as elite. I think many admirals and the Secretary
3 of the Navy would reiterate that with confidence.
4 I was told they selected 25 to 30 instructors a year to be commissioned directly
5 out of college and go teach enlisted folks that would run nuclear reactors on submarines
6 and aircraft carriers defending our country around the world.
7 So I had to go through an intense, you know, process to become certified as an
8 instructor, effectively getting an M.S. equivalent in nuclear and electrical engineering. I
9 did that quickly and got certified to teach, and I taught officers that would go become
10 chief engineers – I'm sure everyone in the room has seen "Hunt for Red October,"
11 but – running nuclear reactors on submarines and aircraft carriers.
12 And then, at the time, Strom Thurmond had worked real hard to get Nuclear
13 Power School moved from Orlando, Florida, to Charleston, South Carolina. And I
14 interviewed and got selected by the commanding officer to become their chief
15 technology officer, which required me upgrading my security clearance to a Q security
16 clearance.
17 Q What is a Q security clearance?
18 A So Q security clearance is the highest security clearance issued by the
19 Department of Energy and the NSA.