Balancing Science and Technology to Advance Nuclear Security

Although nuclear security risks arising from terrorist and non-state actors have existed for decades, advances in science and technology (S&T) have both heightened the threat of terrorist use of chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear (CBRN) materials while simultaneously strengthening the ability to anticipate, detect, thwart, or mitigate such attacks. This paper opens with a contextual overview of evolving security challenges arising from non-state actors, and then considers how several key science and technology advancements provide potential capabilities to anticipate, detect, deter, or mitigate such threats. Specifically, the paper considers the spectrum of nuclear and CBRN terrorism, from the lone domestic individual to an organized international group. A brief summary of the historic and current non-state threats provides a useful backdrop to understanding how S&T has evolved to better detect, prevent, or mitigate threats to nuclear security. The paper then outlines four main areas of expanded S&T capabilities: (1) safeguards and security, (2) intelligence collection and processing, (3) detection and monitoring; and (4) countermeasures and response. The paper then focuses on advances in detection capabilities for nuclear and radiological materials, i.e. for both personal handheld devices such as Radioisotope Identification Devices (RIIDs), Radiation Survey Meters, and High Purity Germanium Detectors, as well as portal systems to include thermal and gamma ray detection as well as emerging muon detection systems. This survey of detection technologies enables a concluding discussion of the systems and vulnerabilities linked to these technologies, including the use of data collection platforms such as unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and commensurate processing, exploitation, and dissemination (PED) packages to harness and process information in a timely and actionable manner. The conclusion also includes a discussion of how to balance these advances against directly linked vulnerabilities in cybersecurity and of the data disseminated from such advanced S&T platforms. Significance: The research and findings behind this paper will support technical and policy decisions in directing research and development funding, and in integrating technical solutions into cost-effective, integrated, and contemporary policy solutions.