Site Security to Prepare for the Strengthened Safeguards System Protocol

The Strengthened Safeguards System (SSS) Protocol will give the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) a greater ability to identify clandestine production of fissile materials. It requires increased declarations of nuclear-related research and development activities, allows for inspections at declared an undeclared locations and permits environmental sampling. President Clinton has declared that the United States will implement the additional protocol to the fullest extent possible. The additional protocol will result in an increased number of declarations at Department of Energy (DOE) sites. The Department of Defense (DoD) has sensitive equities at most of these sites. In order to better support the ratification process for the SSS Protocol, DoD tasked the Defense Treaty Inspections Readiness Program (DTIRP) to perform assessments of the impact of the SSS Protocol on its equities at DOE sites. This process required extensive coordination to minimize the impact on operations at the sites, enabling valid results to be produced.