
A version of the fiery interagency and inter-branch tug of war that produced this year’s controversial civilian nuclear weapons budget would be essentially legalized, if a compromise 2021 defense authorization bill unveiled Thursday becomes law. The compromise 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which lameduck President Trump has threatened to veto over matters unrelated to nuclear weapons or Pentagon programs, authorizes the roughly $20 billion the NNSA requested for the 2021 fiscal year that began Oct. 1. On a Thursday…