"No responsibility of a President is more important than national security and no element of national security policy is more important than nuclear policy. Mischaracterizations by the uninformed should not blur the fact that our policy is -- and will continue to be -- what the President called for in 2001:  achieving a credible deterrent with the lowest-possible number of nuclear weapons consistent with our national security needs." -- Ambassador Linton F. Brooks, Administrator, National Nuclear Security Administration (June 21, 2004, Carnegie International Nonproliferation Conference).

• On February 11, 2004, President Bush stated in a speech at the National Defense University that the greatest risk to the United States or anywhere else in the world is the possibility of a nuclear or radiological materials attack. The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has significant resources and activities devoted to combat these threats.
• President Bush�s most recent Department of Energy (DOE) budget request to Congress sought a nonproliferation budget of $1.35 billion � a nearly 75 percent increase over the last and largest budget request of the previous administration.
• In May 2004, DOE Secretary Spencer Abraham announced the Global Threat Reduction Initiative (GTRI), which is removing and securing high-risk nuclear and radiological materials and equipment around the world that pose a threat to the United States and to the international community.
  • Under the GTRI, the DOE and NNSA will continue working in partnership with Russia to repatriate all fresh and spent Russian-origin nuclear fuel that currently resides at research reactors around the world. NNSA has worked with Russia on three recent highly enriched uranium (HEU) take-back missions, with more in the planning stages.
  • A second feature of the GTRI will be to take whatever steps necessary to accelerate the repatriation of U.S.-origin research reactor spent HEU fuel (approximately 20 metric tons in all) from more than 40 locations around the world.
  • The third major feature of the GTRI will be to convert the cores of 105 civilian research reactors that use HEU to use low enriched uranium fuel.
  • Finally, the GTRI will be to work to identify other nuclear and radiological materials and related equipment that are no t yet covered by existing threat reduction efforts. Once identified, NNSA will secure, remove, relocate or dispose of these materials and equipment in the quickest, safest manner possible.
• NNSA has accelerated its efforts to secure 600 metric tons of weapons-usable material in Russia and will complete upgrades by 2008. By the end of this fiscal year, NNSA will have secured almost 50 percent of this material and almost 80 percent of the sites. During 2003 and 2004, NNSA will have secured more material than in any other twoyear period in the program�s history. Additionally, since FY 01, NNSA has secured 17 percent more material than the total material secured in the program�s history.
• NNSA has accelerated the recovery of approximately 10,000 high-risk radiological sources in the United States that could be used in a �dirty bomb.� In the past 18 months, the program has doubled the number of sources recovered during the eight-year life of the program.
• NNSA has dramatically accelerated its work with the Russian Navy to secure their fuel and nuclear warhead sites. By the end of 2006, NNSA will have secured 100 percent of Russian Navy fuel and nuclear weapons storage sites.
• In the spring of 2003, NNSA began a new program with Russia to upgrade security for its Strategic Rocket Forces sites. By the end of this year NNSA will have secured two sites, and will secure the remaining 15 by the end of 2008.
• Last year, the MegaPorts program was created to place radiation detection equipment at the world�s major seaports and some airports. This summer, NNSA will complete installation of radiation detectors at the largest seaport in Europe, the Port of Rotterdam.
• On May 31, 2003, the President announced the establishment of the Proliferation Security Initiative, a program of counterproliferation partnerships to allow the U.S. and its partners to interdict suspect cargo on land, at sea, or in the air, and to seize illegal weapons-related material or missile technologies. As a direct consequence of this initiative, Libya decided to abandon its WMD and long-range missile programs. Since last December, NNSA has worked with Libya, the IAEA, and other international partners to dismantle Libya�s nuclear weapons program.
• There are no new U.S. nuclear weapons under research and development, or being produced.
• Administrator Brooks announced this month a significant reduction � nearly 50 percent � in the nation�s total nuclear weapons stockpile by 2012. This will result in the lowest number of nuclear weapons in decades. The stockpile contains reserve warheads that back up the operationally deployed nuclear weapons. In 2001, President Bush announced that the operationally deployed force would be reduced to 1,700 � 2,200 nuclear weapons by 2012. His decision was later codified in the Moscow Treaty.

NNSA is a semi-autonomous agency of the Department of Energy. It enhances U.S. national security through the military application of nuclear energy, maintains the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile, promotes international nuclear nonproliferation and safety, reduces global danger from weapons of mass destruction, provides the U.S. Navy with safe and effective nuclear propulsion, and oversees its national laboratories to maintain U.S. leadership in science and technology.