NNSA's Joint Technical Operations Team (JTOT) provides specialized technical capabilities in support of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Department of Defense (DoD) to render-safe a nuclear or radiological weapon or device before it does any damage.  In addition, they determine if the weapon or device is safe to move for further analysis, and safe to ship to a site for disposition.

Furthermore, the JTOT provides real-time technical support to other deployed NNSA emergency response assets through the JTOT Home Team.

Mission
The JTOT mission is to provide technical support to the FBI and DoD to render-safe a nuclear or radiological weapon or device before it does any damage, and to move it to a safe area for disassembly.  JTOT members have to decide how to handle the weapon or device safely.  The team consists of experts that are highly skilled and familiar with the design of nuclear or radiological weapons or devices.

Steps in the JTOT Response
The JTOT deploys in three phases:

Phase I is the initial render safe operations, and provides technical advice to the FBI and DoD during the render safe operations.  This team provides the Home Team situational awareness and information on actions taken at the incident site.  The Home Team and Field Team work together to determine the best possible solution to the problem.

Phase II is called the advanced technical operations phase.  During this phase, the JTOT team in conjunction with the Home Team gathers and analyzes additional information about the weapon or device and performs procedures to ensure the weapon or device is safe to transport to a final location.

Phase III is the final disposition phase, which requires the NNSA to handle disposition operations of a damaged or recovered nuclear or radiological weapon or device.  In addition, technical nuclear forensics operations are conducted during this phase.