Thank you for that kind introduction and for inviting me to
speak. For decades Chatham House has been identified with
thoughtful consideration of important international security
issues and it is an honor to appear before you. I want to talk
today about the threat from nuclear terrorism and some aspects
of the U.S. strategy to counter it. In particular, I will
describe our efforts to secure nuclear weapons and weapons-
usable nuclear materials and to improve capabilities to detect
and interdict nuclear weapons or materials that may be
introduced covertly. I will explain why that is the right focus
in a few minutes. I hope to convince you of three key points.
First, prevention of terrorist acquisition of a nuclear weapon
or the materials to construct a crude nuclear device is our
highest priority. Second, deterrence has an important role to
play in countering nuclear terrorism, although in a different
way than we sometimes think. Third, we must work together to
defeat nuclear terrorism. Countering Terrorist Nuc