The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) is a combat support
agency of the U.S. Department of Defense, assigned the mission of safeguarding
the United States and its allies from weapons of mass destruction (WMD - chemical,
biological, radiological, nuclear and high-yield explosive weapons) by providing
capabilities to reduce, eliminate, and counter the threat and mitigate its
effects.
The Director of DTRA reports to the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition,
Technology and Logistics, through the Assistant to the Secretary of Defense
for Nuclear and Chemical & Biological Defense Programs. The Director of
DTRA also serves as the Director of the U.S. Strategic Command Center for Combating
WMD, co-located with DTRA in the Defense Threat Reduction Center at Fort Belvoir,
Va., and in this capacity reports to the Commander of U.S. Strategic Command.
The Agency’s mission is directed by several campaigns designed to drive
the agency toward a set of short- and long-term goals. Currently, there are
seven:
Campaign One deals with building and maintaining situational awareness. The goal
of this campaign is to create the capacity for continual situational awareness
of WMD threats and related activities. This effort supports Department of Defense,
U.S. government and Allied efforts to prevent the procurement, proliferation,
threat of use and/or use of WMD against the United States, its interests and
its allies.
Campaign Two is intended to control WMD materials and systems worldwide. This
effort focuses DTRA on developing new counter-WMD technologies and concepts,
implementing treaties, interdicting WMD, encouraging friendly states to do likewise
and integrating our efforts with theirs.
Campaign Three aims to eliminate the threat from WMD to the warfighter. The goal
of this campaign is to render WMD attacks as harmless as possible through successful
deterrence, defense, response and recovery efforts.
Campaign Four is designed to enable others to protect the
homeland. Through training, planning and technology development efforts, this
campaign supports U.S. Northern Command’s desired end state: “A
secure U.S. homeland, effectively defended from external threats and aggression,
and capable of managing consequences of attacks by state and non-state actors,
as well as natural disasters.”
Campaign Five is designed to transform the deterrent. This
campaign supports the Combatant Commanders’ ability to hold WMD and
its associated infrastructure and leadership at risk through technology development
and operational support.
Campaign Six, the business excellence campaign, aids the
agency in successful achievement of its mission by streamlining business processes;
by offering continuous, global, secure information access and by acquiring
and retaining the best workforce for the agency.
Campaign “X” is to defeat the threat from loose
nuclear weapons. This campaign will develop capabilities to find, fix and
secure loose nuclear weapons, and to detect fissile materials such as nuclear
devices at long range.
To fulfill these diverse missions, DTRA personnel operate
over 60 locations around the world. The largest of DTRA’s geographically-separated
locations is in Albuquerque, N.M., home to the Defense Nuclear Weapons School,
which enables those protecting the homeland by providing training in nuclear
weapons core competencies and WMD response to DoD and other federal and state
agencies. DTRA-Albuquerque also hosts DTRA’s testing facilities and
administers DTRA activities at the Nevada Test Site.
DTRA also has a number of facilities overseas, giving the
agency global reach. DTRA’s office in Darmstadt, Germany, supports U.S.
treaty and confidence and security-building measures throughout Europe. Other
overseas field offices are hosted by the United Kingdom, Japan, and a number
of the former Soviet states.
The agency is authorized 1,913 military and civilian personnel
and has a fiscal year 2007 budget of $2.64 billion.
