US Nuclear Weapons Stockpile Management

On November 10, 2011, the Center for Science, Technology, and Security Policy at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAA S), the Hudson Institute Center for Political- Military Analysis and the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) hosted a workshop to discuss the future of the Department of Energy’s stockpile management program.

The meeting was unclassified and off the record. To allow free discussion, it was carried out under the Chatham House Rule in which statements made during the meeting (such as those reported here) can be cited but not attributed to individual speakers.

In addition to those from the sponsoring organizations, workshop participants included active and retired scientists and engineers from Los Alamos National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and Y-12 National Security Complex; representatives from the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), the Department of Defense, and the Office of Science and Technology Policy; independent scientists who are members of the JASON panel that advises the government on nuclear weapons and other security issues; and experts from nongovernmental organizations and elsewhere.

While this report sometimes characterizes views as being held by groups of participants for the sake of simplicity and to avoid identifying individual speakers, participants’ opinions did not fall into simple, easily separable categories.