Tomorrow's Pen is Mightier than Yesterday's Sword

by Dana C. Christensen

"Today, the display of our nation's strength can be achieved only through successful demonstration and deployment of technology and through recognition by our (scientific) peers throughout the world."

Dana C. Christensen, Deputy Director of NMT Division and John Berg at the recent Division Review

It is very easy to get caught up in the "hubbub" of daily activities, concentrating on specific projects, their scopes, schedules, and budgets. In doing so, we may lose track of the greater goal of reducing the global nuclear danger. It is important to pause and consider this Laboratory's evolving role and evaluate its importance in achieving the greater goal. The nation's work, and thus our work, with plutonium falls into three clear challenges, with no one being more important than the other: 1) legacy cleanup, 2) nonproliferation and arms control, and 3) national security, including both military and energy security. In meeting these challenges we can do much to reduce the global nuclear danger.

The question, thus, becomes how to position the whole of TA-55 to meet these important challenges. A successful approach, demonstrated on projects such as ARIES, Operations Center Upgrade, and 40-mm Launcher Activation, was to establish integrated teams with others who have a wide variety of skills. This will continue to be an approach used into the future. But perhaps our most critical challenge involves assuring the health of core competencies within our own operations. We are already seeing a movement away from fundamental and applied R&D toward an emphasis on "production" and are discussing this threat with our program offices and sponsors. As we configure our programs in the future, assuring that core science and technology are properly supported will become essential. In order to succeed in achieving a balanced set of activities, we must be able to show that all activities point toward the goal of reducing the global nuclear danger. We will likely also need to identify how fundamental R&D is essential in achieving program successes.

At the recent NMT Division Review, Steve Younger, Program Director for Nuclear Weapons Technology, discussed how, without nuclear testing, peer review of journal articles is essential in maintaining and communicating our ability to design and deploy the nuclear deterrent. This concept likewise applies to TA-55. Our stature in professional and political communities will be known only through peer recognition from elsewhere in the country and the world. Therefore, we must help ourselves by becoming more visible at professional meetings, more involved in professional societies, and more frequently published in professional journals.

It is interesting that demonstrated military strength was the successful vehicle for achieving significant arms reductions in the START I and II treaties. Future arms reductions will be achieved only through a continued demonstration of strength, but this strength will not be demonstrable through the periodic testing of nuclear weapons. Today, the display of our nation's strength can be achieved only through successful demonstration and deployment of technology and through recognition by our peers throughout the world. This means that investment in both applied and fundamental technology is the necessary precursor to continuing down the path to peace. Taking the time to prepare publications and to present results in various public forums is becoming an essential aspect of performing our work. Each individual can have a significant impact on our ability to attract sufficient funds in the future. Indeed, this continued sponsor investment, followed by our commitment to communicate that strength, will allow the United States to influence the rest of the world in the long-term management of all plutonium inventories, and will therefore allow us to achieve the goal of reducing the global nuclear danger.

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