The Texas A&M System Board of Regents met in 2025 with officials at Pantex, the United States’ assembly and disassembly plant for nuclear weapons. Left to right: Colby Yeary, Mission Assurance Officer, Pantex Plant; Johnnie Guelker, Executive Director for Plants and Sites Programs, Texas A&M University Syste; David Baggett, Regent, Texas A&M University System Board of Regents; Diane Hurtado, Vice Chancellor for Nuclear Security Initiatives, Texas A&M University System; Robert Albritton, Chairman, Texas A&M University System Board of Regents; Mike Hernandez, Regent, Texas A&M University System Board of Regents; Kelly Beierschmitt, President and General Manager, Pantex Plant.
Adam Baker/Texas A&M University System
Most Texans will never tour Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico or the Pantex Plant northeast of Amarillo. They will never see the secure facilities, research labs, training centers or production areas where some of the most serious national security work in the country takes place.
But they should know this: The Texas A&M University System is part of that mission.
Through our Nuclear Security Office, the A&M System helps support the nation’s Nuclear Security Enterprise, a national team involved in nuclear weapon design, simulation, testing and stewardship of the U.S. nuclear stockpile. Our work there includes our role on the management and operations teams for Los Alamos and Pantex, and as a strategic university partner with Sandia National Laboratories and Lawrence National Livermore Laboratory.
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That may sound technical. The purpose is not.
The mission is to help ensure the United States maintains a nuclear deterrent that is safe, secure and effective.
President Ronald Reagan understood this clearly. He once said, “We maintain the peace through our strength; weakness only invites aggression.”
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Nuclear deterrence is not about celebrating weapons. It is about preventing war. It is about making sure America has the strength, discipline and credibility to deter those who would threaten our country, our allies or our way of life.
cIt is kept by resolve, competence and steady hands.
That is why I am proud the A&M System has a role to play.
I’m chairman of Texas A&M’s University System board of Regents. This nuclear work is a natural fit for who we are. The A&M System was built to serve. We are a land-grant system with a long military tradition, a practical approach to problem solving and a deep respect for duty.
Across our universities and state agencies, we have researchers, engineers, scientists, students, emergency response experts, transportation specialists and workforce trainers whose expertise matters to national security. They work in fields such as advanced manufacturing, nuclear science, critical materials, artificial intelligence, high explosives, emergency management and secure operations.
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At Pantex, the nation relies on highly trained people to support one of the most sensitive missions in the federal government. Many of those workers are from West Texas. Many are graduates of A&M System universities. They are the kind of people who do not seek attention, but who understand responsibility.
At Los Alamos, A&M System faculty, former students and professionals are helping strengthen research partnerships, workforce development, leadership training and operational support. That work connects our students and researchers with real national security needs.
This is the part of the story more Texans need to know.
When people think of the A&M System, they may think first of classrooms, agriculture, engineering, disaster response, health care, football Saturdays or the Corps of Cadets. All of that is part of our story.
But the A&M System also has a growing role in one of the most important national security missions in America.
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Nuclear security is not the same thing as nuclear energy. This is not a debate about electricity generation. Nuclear security is about deterrence, stockpile modernization, research, safety, security, workforce and readiness.
It is also not work any one institution can do alone. The Nuclear Security Enterprise is a national team. The federal government sets the mission. Laboratories, plants, sites, universities and industry partners help deliver it.
The A&M System’s job is to bring useful capabilities to that team and help prepare the next generation of Americans who will carry this responsibility forward.
We do not need to overstate our role to be proud of it. We are one part of a larger national effort. But it is an important part, and it is time more Texans understood it.
Freedom does not defend itself. Some defend it in uniform. Some defend it in laboratories. Some defend it in secure facilities, research shops, production lines, classrooms and training centers.
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In work this consequential, America needs people who are steady, practical, disciplined and clear-eyed.
That is the kind of people Texas produces.
That is the kind of people the A&M System was built to serve.
And that is why I am grateful that so many Texans and Aggies are helping carry this responsibility for the country we love.
Robert L. Albritton is chairman of the Texas A&M University System board of regents.