| National Nuclear Security Administration | |
|---|---|
| Agency overview | |
| Formed | 2000[1] |
| Employees | at least 1,500 (2006) |
| Annual budget | $9.1 billion (2006) |
| Agency executives | Tom D'Agostino, Administrator Neile L. Miller, Principal Deputy Administrator |
| Parent agency | Department of Energy |
| Website | |
| nnsa.energy.gov | |
The United States National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is part of the United States Department of Energy. It works to improve national security through the military application of nuclear energy. The NNSA also maintains and improves the safety, reliability, and performance of the United States nuclear weapons stockpile, including the ability to design, produce, and test, in order to meet national security requirements.
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The National Nuclear Security Administrations was created by Congressional action in 1999,[2] in the wake of the Wen Ho Lee spy scandal and other allegations that lax administration by the Department of Energy had resulted in the loss of U.S. nuclear secrets to China.[3] Originally proposed to be an independent agency, NNSA gained the reluctant support of the Clinton Administration only after it was instead chartered as a sub-agency within the Department of Energy, to be headed by an Administrator reporting to the Secretary of Energy.[4] The first NNSA Administrator appointed was Air Force General (and CIA Deputy Directory) John A. Gordon.[5]
NNSA has four missions with regard to National Security:
The NNSA's Office of Secure Transportation (OST) provides safe and secure transportation of nuclear weapons and components and special nuclear materials, and conducts other missions supporting the national security of the United States of America. Since 1974, OST has been assigned responsibility to develop, operate, and manage a system for the safe and secure transportation of all government-owned, DOE or NNSA controlled special nuclear materials in "strategic" or "significant" quantities. Shipments are transported in specially designed equipment and are escorted by armed federal agents.
The agency works in more than 130 countries to recover nuclear materials. In its 12-year history it has collected 20,600 dangerous sources of radiation. In 2008, the agency recovered 3,153 radioactive sources. Its current backlog of uncollected items numbers 8,800. The program costs about $15 million a year. Most of the recovered material is stored at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.[6]
The NNSA maintains a database containing personal information on 37,000 persons who design and maintain nuclear weapons for the U. S. government. In June 2006, The New York Times reported that sensitive information on nuclear weapons workers had been stolen from the NNSA, and stated that the theft had gone unreported for nine months following the theft.[7]
On January 5, 2007, President George W. Bush accepted the recommendation of Energy Secretary Bodman to designate Tom D'Agostino as Acting Administrator. Most recently, D'Agostino served as Deputy Administrator of NNSA for Defense Programs.
In 2008, the NNSA, in cooperation with Russian and other agencies, helped transport 341 pounds of enriched uranium in 13 radiation proof casks weighing 17,000 lb (7,700 kg) apiece from Budapest to Siberia. In late September 2008 the casks were secretly loaded onto trucks at the Budapest facility and then taken to the city's train station, where it was transported onto a special train for an eight-hour trip to the port of Koper in Slovenia on the Adriatic Sea.
The shipments then moved through the Mediterranean, through the Strait of Gibraltar, up the Atlantic and into the English Channel, the North and Norwegian seas and then on to Murmansk. From there the shipment was loaded on a train for the long trip to Siberia.
This operation was conducted by American and Russian officials to ensure the safe disposal of the radioactive uranium that is highly enriched and weapons-grade. The Hungarian reactor is now being converted to use low-enriched uranium that cannot be used in a weapon and will not be a potential terrorist target.[8]