UK nuclear weapons handed to private US firm

The United Kingdom apppears to have effectively abandoned control of it's Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston following a sale by BNFL to a US firm. Aldermaston has a key role in the production and maintenance of the British Nuclear deterrent Trident warheads. In effect then Britain has privatised its nuclear weapons production and maintenance and handed it over to US owned provate interests.

The UK government is predictably downplaying the implications of the move and claiming that control still rests with the UK government. This begs the question though as to who has the say over the selectin and vetting of staff at the establishment. Presumably this will now rest with the provate companies involved.