At the heart of the U.S. nuclear weapons complex is an often-overlooked force of highly-trained, armed couriers who shepherd nuclear materials from one National Nuclear Security Administration site to another.
NNSA Principal Deputy Administrator Frank Rose on May 18 praised the most recent class of candidates for that service, graduates of the Office of Secure Transportation’s (OST) Nuclear Materials Courier Basic Program. The NNSA cannot carry out its national security mission of building, storing, and maintaining nuclear weapons without the OST, which so far has a 100% success rate, Rose told said at the ceremony at Fort Chaffee Joint Maneuver Training Center in Arizona.
“No matter how much money is appropriated in the topline budget, NNSA cannot be successful in any of these missions without the ability to safely transport materials between our laboratories, plants, and sites, wherever they are needed,” Rose said.
The 21 graduates of the OST basic training program spend 18 weeks at Fort Chaffee, spending eight to 10 hours a day in weapons, law enforcement control tactics, and simulated urban combat training. They learned to operate Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) communication systems and drive through tactical situations in tractor-trailer trucks “that make SUVs seem like go-carts,” Rose said.
Sixteen of the graduates are armed services veterans – nine served in the Marine Corps, four in the Army, and three in the Air Force. The remaining five graduates served in various law enforcement agencies.
OST employs about 300 federal agents in the courier service and more than 250 supporting staff serving as aircraft and vehicle maintainers, armorers, administrative support staff, and in other roles, Rose said.