Defense Threat Reduction Agency

In today’s world, adversaries and terrorists are becoming more and more creative on ways to acquire, make or hide weapons of mass destruction – or invent completely new ones that aim to surprise and overcome our existing defenses. Can any military – even the world’s biggest, most powerful – identify these new threats and adapt fast enough to protect its troops, its citizens, its allies and partners? We say yes – yes, because we must.

As the DoD’s Combat Support Agency for combating weapons of mass destruction, we know what the stakes are. That’s why our research and development programs cover the complete WMD spectrum. Our developmental programs tackle specific problems to deliver finished solutions, providing our country’s warfighters with the tools, defensive systems and counter-WMD weapons they need now. Tell us the problems and we can go from idea to concept to prototype to production model in mere months, as we recently did with the Transport Isolation System. We have the expertise and know-how to find real solutions real fast.

At the other end of the R&D spectrum, our basic science programs are doing the tough research that demands focus, foresight, and a commitment to the tough problems that take years or decades to solve. We’re on the leading edge of scientific exploration of materials and methods that were thought impossible just a few years ago. We tackle potential problems long before they become a problem, because it may take a decade to find the right solution. Who knew, more than 10 years ago when our scientists started looking for an Ebola vaccine, that there would be an Ebola pandemic in 2014? It took a decade of research to try new ideas – but it paid off with a potential life-saving vaccine and therapeutic..

Our adversaries are doing their own research and development to create a weapon of mass destruction, with the goal of getting it right once. We have to get it right all the time in order to stop them – but our scientists know that, and they are the best at what they do: Making the World Safer.