LAS VEGAS -- National Security Technologies (NSTec) has named Dante C. Pistone as the new manager of Public Affairs and Community Relations.

Pistone will work as the public information officer for the National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Site Office (NNSA/NSO) and NSTec in the work they do at the Nevada Test Site.

Among Pistone's priority assignments are working with local media and community organizations to promote the test site mission as well as overseeing emergency management, publications and tours.

Pistone joins NSTec from the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection where he served as public information officer from 2005 to 2008. Prior to that, he worked as manager of public relations for The Rose-Glenn Group in Reno, managing public affairs for Granite Construction's work on the ReTRAC project to lower the railroad tracks through downtown Reno from 2003-2005.

His work also has included 11 years as manager and director of Corporate Communications for Southwest Gas Corp. in Las Vegas from 1987 to 1998.

Earlier in his career, he served as press secretary to U.S. Rep. James D. Santini, D-Nev., in Washington, D.C.

Pistone is a native of Nevada, born and raised in Yerington. He is a graduate of the University of Nevada, Reno. He brings more than 30 years of experience in public relations and public affairs to his new post at NSTec. Additionally, Pistone is a past president of the Las Vegas Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America and a graduate of the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce Leadership Las Vegas.

NSTec manages operations at the Nevada Test Site (NTS) and its related facilities and laboratories for the U.S. Department of Energy NNSA/NSO. NSTec teams with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories on many programs.

NSTec also works on projects for other federal agencies as it fulfills its mission.