Nuclear terrorism has become an increasing concern to the United States and an important focus for NNSA and the Department of Energy (DOE).  The Office of the Deputy Under Secretary for Counterterrorism was created to coordinate counterterrorism activities within NNSA, to coordinate the allocation of counterterrorism resources across DOE, and to be the department’s principal point of contact with other U.S. government agencies and foreign governments on counterterrorism matters.

NNSA’s core expertise in nuclear sciences is central to the national effort to deter, detect, defeat, or attribute an attempted or actual nuclear or radiological terrorist attack.  Its counterterrorism programs have evolved since the 9/11 terrorist attacks and play a crucial role in protecting the homeland.  DOE and other agencies rely on the national laboratories’ knowledge of nuclear weapons design to: identify novel and unconventional nuclear threats; support the design and evaluation of radiation detection systems; design technologies to disarm a terrorist nuclear device, and; evaluate the safeguards and security of existing and future nuclear facilities.

This expertise is also put to use through NNSA’s nonproliferation programs, which contribute to the prevention of terrorism by: detecting nuclear and radiological materials, and WMD-related equipment; securing vulnerable nuclear weapons and weapons-usable nuclear and radiological materials; and disposing of surplus weapons-usable nuclear and radiological materials.  For more information on NNSA’s nonproliferation programs, click here.

NNSA works with other nations  to develop emergency management programs and infrastructure to reduce the risk of nuclear and radiological events and to mitigate the consequences of such an event.  Moreover, working with other agencies, NNSA is expanding the overseas detection and interception tripwires, through research and development and implementation to find and stop nuclear materials in transit.  Finally, NNSA’s response teams provide the nation’s last line of defense to search for and render safe a nuclear device, and to provide consequence management and nuclear forensics support in the event of an incident.

NNSA and DOE’s counterterrorism efforts are closely coordinated with other U.S. government agencies, including: the Departments of State, Defense and Homeland Security, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the National Counterterrorism Center.

DOE’s ongoing efforts to ensure the nation’s energy supply, protect critical energy infrastructure, support the U.S. intelligence community, and conduct broad-based scientific research contribute to our homeland security as well.

Viewed comprehensively, these programs, and related support to other agencies, comprise the elements of a multi-layered defense of the nation against the nuclear terrorism threat.