Case Studies

The Challenge

Items associated with Nuclear Weapons Systems had become misidentified by the Air Force and were actually classified missile delivery components. Although the incident was largely due to inventory control and packaging issues, it caused concern within the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), and because of the serious nature of the incident, the NNSA took a number of steps to determine whether it had appropriate control and accountability systems in place to avoid similar mistakes in the nuclear weapons enterprise.

The Solution

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) undertook an initial enterprise-wide review of processes and procedures for ensuring accountability and control of nuclear weapons-related material was conducted.  A more in-depth review was then undertaken to determine whether each NNSA site could verify full accountability of weapons-related parts and that the parts were under sufficient control to prevent an inadvertent transfer or loss.  The more in-depth review that was undertaken included the following:

• Substantive reviews of each of the National NNSA site offices and the site contractors to understand control and accountability practices at the sites.
• Reviews of the management structures at the site offices and the contractor to ensure full accountability and control.
• Identification of best practices and the use of lessons-learned.
• Recommendations to enhance an already robust system.

CTAC’s Role

CTAC provided subject matter experts to the federally-led review team which was composed of both federal and contractor staff. CTAC subject matter experts were employed to:

• Support the entire team process including scheduling of site visits, compilation of observations and findings, and identification of best practices and lessons learned.
• Development of the review plan and topical protocols for use by the team in conducting its review
• Research of applicable laws, regulations, and directives.
• Report preparation and development of briefing materials for use by the team leader in briefing senior NNSA leadership and other stakeholders.