Defense Threat Reduction Agency

The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) is an American government agency within the United States Department of Defense.

The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) can trace its roots back to the Manhattan Project in 1942. A mission that began strictly as a weapons development program expanded during the Cold War and eventually included non-nuclear weapons development nonproliferation efforts.

The November 1997 Defense Reform Initiative joined the Defense Special Weapons Agency and the On-Site Inspection Agency with two defense programs—the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program (CTR) and Chemical-Biological Defense Program, Science and Technology component—forming the core elements of the new Agency. DTRA was formally established on October 1, 1998. Additionally, the Joint Improvised Defeat Organization joined DTRA in October 2016.

DTRA’s rich legacy begins with the Manhattan Engineering District, later referred to simply as the Manhattan Project, which was created to develop the world’s first atomic bomb during World War II. Rooted in the success of the TRINITY nuclear test, the first detonation of an implosion-type plutonium device, the Atomic Age was born. 

After the end of World War II, the Manhattan Project continued to support atomic weapons testing until the Atomic Energy Act of 1946 split the program into two parts—the Atomic Energy Commission, known today at the Department of Energy (DOE), and the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project (AFSWP). The AFSWP, was the military organization responsible for the nuclear weapons aspects remaining under military control after the split, was responsible for nuclear weapons maintenance, storage, surveillance, security and transportation as well as conducting offensive and defensive military training in nuclear weapons operations and supporting nuclear tests.

The AFSWP was re-designated as the Defense Atomic Support Agency (DASA) in 1959 following an expansion of responsibilities. DASA received the majority of the Department’s nuclear effects research and testing funds and as new technologies were explored the Agency assumed increased roles and missions relevant to the modernization of the U.S. capabilities. DASA was also responsible for coordinating responses to nuclear accident. 

With the rapid military build-up and strategic modernization, the Defense Nuclear Agency (DNA) was established as the successor of DASA in 1971 and soon became the leader for all U.S. nuclear weapons effect tests and other new technologies. DNA also inherited the task of addressing effects of nuclear weapons testing on the health of the general public, test participants and the environment, eventually establishing the Nuclear Test Personnel Review in 1978.

In the early 1980s, the resurgence of the Cold War tensions and the shift of American Nuclear Policy had a profound effect on the Agency, shifting the mission in the direction of enhancing the endurance and superiority of the country’s strategic and conventional forces.

DNA transitioned to the Defense Special Weapons Agency (DSWA) in 1996 and gained increased responsibilities. In addition to the Agency inherited missions, DSWA was charged with conducting programs associated with the CTR work, arms control technology, and with counterproliferation support. As the Department of Defense assessed the threat of upcoming 21st Century WMD technological dangers, it became the natural and efficient choice to rely upon DSWA, an Agency responsive and agile and prepared to meet the needs of the American people and people around the world.  

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