NNSA Principal Deputy Administrator Frank Rose Remarks to NATO Summit After Action Tabletop Exercise, October 4, 2023

I would like to offer my thanks to the Radiation Protection Center for hosting us all here today and to Dignitary Protection Service for being the driving force that has brought us all together.

Today’s event is also facilitated by NNSA’s Office of Nuclear Smuggling Detection and Deterrence, or NSDD.  NSDD’s mission is to detect and interdict nuclear or radioactive materials as close to their source as possible and before they can be used in a terrorist attack.

To fulfill this mission, we work internationally with police, border security, and security services throughout the world. Over the past 20 years, we have built a global community capable of interdicting and investigating nuclear material smuggling incidents. 

NSDD began its work in Russia 20 years ago.  At that time, we focused on securing Russian nuclear facilities, while at the same time developing a way to detect materials that may have already been or could be diverted from these facilities. 

Much progress has been made over the last two decades to secure radioactive and nuclear materials. But we continue to face grave challenges in nuclear security.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, their reckless behavior at nuclear facilities in Ukraine, and their intention to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus all reinforce the importance of continuing to invest in nuclear security. 

For more than a decade, NNSA has been gratified to have such strong partnerships with our colleagues in Lithuania. Together we have equipped the majority of the Lithuanian border crossings with Belarus and Russia with radiation detection systems. We continue to collaborate on ways to improve border security and detection operations within borders.

We are also glad to have played a small part in helping with the preparations for the high-profile NATO summit held earlier this year in Vilnius. Hosting the summit was a huge undertaking and a major accomplishment for the city and for Lithuania. We were impressed not only by your security preparations ahead of the event, but also your willingness to evaluate how the preparations can be improved and how you can better work across organizations to detect and prevent attacks with dangerous materials.  

I wish you all a productive and impactful exercise this week.