Early in his administration, President Obama established a goal to secure all vulnerable nuclear material around the world within four years -- a task that encompasses locking down materials in 35 countries. Yesterday, Rachel Maddow had an exclusive interview with Andrew Bieniawski, the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration's associate deputy administrator for global threat reduction, on the fact that over the holidays, the NNSA has succeeded in removing 111 pounds of highly enriched uranium from Ukraine and sent it to Russia where it will be blended down, making it useless for bomb-making. All the movement has to be done in secret and coordinated with other nations, he said. Four nations were involved in the Ukraine operation, he said. "Pulling this off is a huge challenge," he said. The removal operation completed Thursday involved 21 specially designed casks for the uranium to be flown on five flights from three cities, officials told The Associated Press
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