A Roadmap for U.S. Efforts to Enhance Nuclear Security around the Globe

A crude nuclear bomb detonated in an urban area could kill hundreds of thousands of people, cost hundreds of billions of dollars, and have dangerous domestic and international political consequences. The most effective defense against nuclear terrorism is providing effective and sustainable security for nuclear weapons-useable material. For more than two decades, U.S. nuclear security programs have played a vital role in reducing the threat of nuclear terrorism around the world. That progress accelerated in recent years when both the Bush and Obama Administrations made securing vulnerable nuclear material around the world a major foreign policy focus. The Bush-Putin Bratislava Initiative significantly accelerated nuclear security improvements in Russia, and the Bush administration and Congress approximately doubled nuclear security spending. The Obama Administration has helped to consolidate nuclear weapons-useable material, strengthen international fora, and, under the umbrella of U.S.-led nuclear security summits, provided political incentives for countries to improve their own nuclear security.2