PROTECTING U.S. CITIES FROM RADIOLOGICAL THREATS: COOPERATIVE EFFORTS BETWEEN GTRI AND LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s Global Threat Reduction Initiative, facility operators, and local law enforcement agencies (LLEA) are engaged in cooperative efforts to reduce the domestic threat from radiological terrorism. This multifaceted effort includes: Joint strategic planning efforts to identify sites with risk-significant quantities of radioactive materials that could be targeted for material theft or sabotage; sharing of threat information; site protection assessments where risk-significant materials are used; installation of physical protective systems to enhance the security at sites with risk- significant quantities of radioactive materials; alarm response training for LLEA personnel and facility security operators at the Y-12 National Security Complex Alarm Response training facility that has a mockup of an operating hospital; and, joint table top exercises that include facility operators, LLEA, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and others. Examples of LLEA partnerships with New York and Philadelphia Police Departments will be presented, lessons learned from these efforts will be described and future plans outlined.