STATEMENT BY
DR. STEPHEN YOUNGER
DIRECTOR, DEFENSE THREAT REDUCTION AGENCY
BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON TERRORISM, UNCONVENTIONAL THREATS AND CAPABILITIES
HOUSE ARMED SERVICE COMMITTEE
UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
CONCERNING
COUNTERING THE THREAT OF
WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION
MARCH 19, 2003
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee, it is an honor for me to be here this afternoon to review the Defense Threat Reduction Agency's programs to counter the use of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). I will summarize my statement and ask that it be included in its entirety in the record
DTRA Reduces the Threat Posed by WMD
The mission of DTRA is simple to understand but critically important to the nation and indeed the whole world - to reduce the threat of weapons of mass destruction or "WMD." This mission has both international and domestic components, although I want to emphasize that DTRA is a combat support agency dedicated to meeting the needs of the warfighters. As a combat support agency, we exist to support the warfighters, bringing specialized expertise in the area of WMD. Where DTRA can make unique contributions to homeland security, we work through Northern Command and the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and with interagency partners to make our tools and services available.
Organizationally, we report to Dr. Dale Klein, the Assistant to the Secretary of Defense (Nuclear, and Chemical, and Biological Defense Programs), but we work closely on a day-to-day basis with the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Commanders of the Unified and Specified Commands, and the Services. To make sure that we are coupled to the needs of the warfighting Commanders, we have liaison officers assigned to the commands, allowing real-time reachback to DTRA capabilities.
DTRA Integrates and Focuses WMD Expertise from All Sources
When the Agency was established in 1998, it incorporated organizations with decades of experience in nuclear weapons effects, the protection of structures against high explosives attacks, vulnerability assessments, consequence management, and arms control and cooperative threat reduction programs. This blend of expertise puts DTRA at the center of WMD threat reduction - which was precisely what was intended.
We accomplish our mission by integrating and focusing WMD expertise from all sources - the Department of Defense, other US Government entities, industry, academia, and from our allies - into products and services that meet the needs of the warfighters. Virtually every DTRA program employs a team approach involving expertise from many different organizations. Our value added is simple - we understand the need of the warfighters, find the required expertise wherever it may be, integrate that expertise into a focused response, and deliver a product within a very short period of time - often within weeks or months.
Our products range from consequence prediction to consequence management, from target analysis for warfighters to developing weapons used to be against those targets. We provide WMD expertise, technology, and support to plans and operations. We deploy our people to the battlefield to augment and support the warfighters during the pre-conflict, conflict, and post-conflict stages. For example, DTRA contributed significantly to the counter-WMD component of the CENTCOM current planning effort and we have deployed over 100 military personnel to the theater.
Our Response to the WMD Threat Relies upon a Full Spectrum of Tools
We use a full spectrum of tools to reduce the WMD threat: arms control; cooperative threat reduction; offensive and defensive technology development; defense against chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and high explosive weapons; and combat support. The net effect of this approach is to provide a defense in depth ranging from cooperative to non-cooperative activities that protect us both overseas and at home.
Our arms control activities allow us to take threat reduction to the source, thereby controlling potential WMD problems far away from our shores. DTRA exercises the US Government's treaty rights through intrusive arms control inspections and fulfills U.S. treaty obligations by escorting treaty partners in the US and at US installations overseas. In a related effort, in cooperation with both the FBI and the Customs Service, we are enhancing border security in the former Soviet Union to prevent WMD smuggling. Additionally, we are the DoD Executive Agent for support to the UNMOVIC inspections in Iraq.
We are also eliminating WMD threats through cooperative programs with successor states to the former Soviet Union through the Cooperative Threat Reduction program. DTRA programs provide for the elimination of strategic delivery systems, the elimination of chemical weapons, and the enhancement of Russian nuclear weapon storage and transportation security. To date, the CTR program has eliminated the delivery systems for over 6,000 strategic warheads. Furthermore, we are making progress in reducing the threats posed by former Soviet chemical and biological weapons programs. Although the execution of the CTR program has been challenging, the investment made in the program goes a long way in denying terrorists access to existing WMD.
If we cannot verify that WMD no longer exist or are being dismantled cooperatively, we develop the means to destroy or neutralize them by taking the fight to the enemy. Through its technology development programs, DTRA is the near-term interface between science and technology and the warfighter. We integrate technology from all sources - US Government agencies, the DOE National Laboratories, academia, the private sector, and from our friends and allies - into products and tools that permit the warfighter to destroy WMD stocks, WMD-related production facilities, and hardened and deeply buried targets. For example, DTRA has developed weapons that can effectively penetrate bunkers and tunnels and, using specially tailored physical effects, are designed to destroy WMD more effectively than the current inventory of weapons. We have become particularly adept at meeting unique warfighter needs with specially tailored weapons in record developmental times.
However, we must assume that, in some situations, an adversary will be successful in delivering a WMD attack against our military forces. We must be able to protect against such eventualities. We assist the combatant commanders in planning how to successfully operate through contaminated environments. We are developing an Unconventional Nuclear Warfare Defense program that will be integrated into a larger program to protect military installations against the full range of WMD threats. We also manage several related Advanced Concept Technology Development programs focused on mission execution in WMD environments. DTRA is well suited for managing the Science and Technology component of the Chemical and Biological Defense program due to our close ties to the warfighter and our ability to integrate a wide-range of expertise into focused, responsive programs.
Through our combat support programs, DTRA helps deter and destroy the WMD threat. The demand for DTRA expertise continues to grow at a tremendous rate. We assist in combat support planning and military operations, develop WMD-related concepts of operation, assess potential vulnerabilities of US facilities worldwide, support consequence management and emergency operations, and assure the viability of the nuclear deterrent. Each year, DTRA performs about 100 force protection vulnerability assessments of military installations and several dozen more extensive Balanced Survivability Assessments of key mission facilities - including, in recent years, Capitol Hill. We improve force protection and installation protection by developing technology that mitigates the blast effects of high explosives. We accomplish this through modeling and simulation, as well as field testing.
Leveraging DTRA's Combat Support Mission for Homeland Security
Mr. Chairman, you have heard that we are a combat support agency focused on supporting the warfighter. But I would like to comment briefly on our ability to assist homeland security. DTRA works closely with appropriate government organizations to promote the transition of our technologies for homeland security applications. For example, we are working with the Department of Homeland Security to share our experience with the Unconventional Nuclear Warfare Defense program and the Bio-Defense Initiative for American cities. We have developed WMD crisis decision guides or "playbooks" that the Department of Homeland Security has adopted as a foundation for its response plans. The creation of the US Northern Command provides the most effective means for applying DTRA support to homeland security. DTRA knows how to support such a military command and we are establishing a close relationship with Northern Command.
As you can see, we receive funding to support all of these activities not only through our own appropriated RDT&E and O&M funds, and funding for the former Soviet Union Threat Reduction, but on a reimbursable basis from other sources as well.
Mr. Chairman, this concludes my remarks. I would be pleased to respond to your questions.
2120 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
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