Stockpile Management (2020 DOE transition): Difference between revisions

The Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and its national security laboratories must annually assess the nuclear weapons stockpile and assure it remains safe, secure, reliable, and militarily effective without additional nuclear explosive testing.

The annual assessment process provides assurance to the President of the United States and Congress that the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile is safe, secure, reliable, and militarily effective. Each year, the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Department of Defense (DOD) undertake a comprehensive evaluation to assess each warhead’s existing certification basis in light of new information generated by the Stockpile Stewardship Program. This process provides the ability to maintain a credible nuclear deterrent and is used to determine whether a nuclear test is required to address any technical issues within the stockpile.

The directors of the national security laboratories (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and Sandia National Laboratories) and the Commander of the United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM) provide an independent, comprehensive written assessment on the state of the nuclear weapons stockpile. They then provide the Secretary of Energy with an in person discussion on their assessments. To complete the cycle, the Nuclear Weapons Council (NWC) prepares a joint memorandum, signed by the Secretaries of Energy and Defense, summarizing the overall assessment of the stockpile. This memorandum, combined with the Laboratory Director Letters and the USSTRATCOM Commander Letter, form the Report on Stockpile Assessments (ROSA). The ROSA is submitted to the President by February 1 of each year, and provides assurance that the nation’s nuclear deterrent remains safe, secure, reliable, and militarily effective.

Annual assessment is required by public law, 50 United States Code Section 2525, which requires the Secretary of Energy and the Secretary of Defense to submit an annual assessment to the President by February 1 of each year. The President, in turn, is required to transmit the final package to Congress by March 15 of that same year.