ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Chris Wright, the country’s new Energy Secretary, visited the national labs in New Mexico, and addressed the future of the labs under the Trump administration.

Secretary Wright visited Los Alamos National Lab on Monday and Sandia National Lab on Tuesday. Wright acknowledged the importance of the labs in our state.

“I don’t think there’s a state in the country with as high of a percent of natural lab employees and cutting edge scientists,” he said. “These two labs are just critical to our nuclear deterrence, to keeping our country safe.”

Los Alamos and Sandia are on the radar of the “energy” part of the U.S. Department of Energy.

“We need to grow our electricity production from sources all over the map. We need to keep the grid reliable, push prices down and give greater opportunities for Americans,” Wright said.

Wright said New Mexico will play a role in that and in continuing to be a leader in nuclear research and development.

“We’ve got to modernize our nuclear fleet. The key thing about nuclear weapons is you don’t ever want to use them, but having reliable, robust, secure weapons is the key to keeping the peace,” he said.

Wright believes both labs can contribute to what he describes as the emerging, second Manhattan Project.

“AI is the next Manhattan Project. This is an incredibly fast-moving science and it’s critical that we win this race as well. It’s equally harrowing if we end out second and behind in AI,” he said. “Where did the very beginning of AI research begin? And the first investigations into that were right here at Sandia National Labs.”

In order to win this next race, the government needs scientists running it – and federal funding. We asked about if recent cuts could trickle down to New Mexico’s labs and if workers should be concerned about losing their jobs.

“I think no,” Wright said. “We have an across government effort to get smarter and get more efficient. But that’s going to impact different areas differently. In the two large national labs in New Mexico, where we are today, this is critical research.”

Wright added that critical research will be undisturbed.