The White House this week released what it says is the first comprehensive strategy for countering weapons of mass destruction (WMD) by terrorists, including radiological and nuclear threats.
The 22-page document eight lines of effort to guide policy and operations, covering capabilities including intelligence collection, technical detection, law enforcement, and various databases “to track the movement of individuals associated with WMD networks.”
“As outlined in the Integrated Nuclear Securit y Strategy, the United States will continue to work with foreign partners to eliminate and consolidate unneeded materials to locations for permanent disposition in forms that are unusable in a weapon,” the White House said. “Consistent with this approach, we will prioritize the nuclear and radiological materials that pose the highest risk for terrorist acquisition and use in an improvised nuclear device or radiological dispersal device.”
The documents gives shout-outs to the radiological safety and security missions overseen by the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) roughly $2-billion-a-year Defense Nuclear Nonproiferation office, led by Deputy Administrator Brent Park.
The strategy called out NNSA-wheelhouse work such as reducing “the overall need for highly attractive nuclear and radiological materials,” including the Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation office’s Materials Management and Minimization mission to convert research reactors around the globe from using bomb-grade highly enriched uranium to using low-enriched uranium.
At a high level, “the United States will lead global efforts to close off terrorists’ access to WMD and related materials,” the Donald Trump administration stated. “Second, the United States will apply consistent pressure against terrorist groups that seek to obtain and use these weapons, including by targeting terrorist WMD specialists and facilitators. Third, as an insurance policy, the United States will strengthen its defenses against WMD at home and abroad.”
The latter step will involve create a “defense-in-depth” approach to detecting and countering the smuggling of radiological materials into, and within, the country.
“We must assume that the most fanatical of [terrorist] groups will gravitate toward weapons of mass destruction (WMD), including chemical, biological, radiological, and even nuclear weapons,” the strategy says.
This story first appeared in Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor’s affiliate publication, Defense Daily.
