Mission
DETECT. DETER. DEFEAT.

DTRA enables Department of Defense (DoD), the U.S. Government, and International Partners
to counter and deter Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) and Emerging Threats.

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Strategy

Directorates

Nuclear Test Personnel Review

Defense Nuclear Weapons School

DTRIAC

STRATEGIC DETERRENCE

 

Enables services and U.S. STRATCOM to ensure the strategic deterrence is safe and credible

Directly supports strategic response through nuclear readiness and modernization

Partners with Interagency for positive control over nuclear weapons, components, and materials

Enhance resilience by focusing on critical infrastructure, site vulnerability and control measures for nuclear weapons, components, and materials

Models nuclear employment effects and examines emerging trends

U.S. TREATY IMPLEMENTATION AND VERIFICATION

 

Implements the U.S. Government arms control verification activities

Plans, coordinates, and provides technical assistance

Provides advice to U.S. delegations, commissions, interagency working groups in arms control and nonproliferation

Oversees and manages activities supporting on-site inspections, escort activities and observations under various treaties

REDUCE GLOBAL WMD THREATS

 

Partners with nations to enhance local and regional counter-wmd capabilities

Enables a global network to counter the development, proliferation, and use of WMD and emerging threats

Leads in nonproliferation efforts to reduce the dangers posed by nuclear weapons

Lead for DoD in training and equipping partner nations in areas such as border protection and counter-smuggling activities

Eliminates WD stockpiles and provides support to consolidate, secure, and account for the materials

VULNERABILITIES AND MITIGATION STRATEGIES

 

Brings together technical, regional, and subject matter experts to identify nascent threat activity

Map support networks and build counter-network approaches

Build tools and methods to protect U.S. forces, mitigate risks and deter adversary action

Analyze and synthesize WMD threat intelligence

Identify vulnerabilities and connect disparate pieces of data

DEVELOP RAPID CAPABILITIES

 

Provides technology development and capability investments that mitigate risks of surprise

Respond to Joint Force’s urgent technical requirements

Maintain U.S. military’s strategic and operational superiority in countering WMD

Develop, demonstrate, and transition innovative technologies to counter emerging threats

Our Legacy

DTRA’s history is long and storied; we trace our roots all the way back to the Manhattan Project in 1947. A mission that began strictly as a weapons development program quickly adapted to include weapons effects and survivability, as nuclear technology proliferated. During the Cold War, we turned to stockpile stewardship and hardening targets. Post-Cold War, the DTRA mission implemented non-proliferation and arms control activities, and in the 1990s began to delve into expanded definitions of Weapons of Mass Destruction, including chemical and biological threats.

DTRA itself was established in 1998, and since that time has been entrusted with some of the Department’s most critical “emerging threat” missions. We have developed knowledge and capabilities to counter and defeat not only chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear threats, but matured the DoD counter-Improvised Explosive Device (C-IED) and counter-small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS) portfolios as well, before transitioning them successfully to the U.S. Army.

As technology changes – as the United States National Security landscape changes – DTRA leads the way to Detect, Deter, and Defeat WMD and Emerging Threats.

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The History of DTRA