Combating Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction

Directive 5134.9, and is responsible for managing, directing, and executing the BallisticMissile Defense Program. This program's objective is to: first, develop and deployincreasingly capable Theater Missile Defenses to meet the existing missile threat todeployed U.S. and allied forces; second, as a hedge against the emergence of long-rangeballistic missile threats, develop options to deploy a National Missile Defense for the UnitedStates; and third, continue to support research on more advanced ballistic missile defensetechnologies to keep pace with the threat and improve the performance of theater andnational missile defense systems.The Services through the Joint Staff: The Defense Reform Initiative does not alter theexisting structure of the Joint Staff and its relationships to the Commanders-in-Chief andServices. The two primary Joint Staff organizations that have combating-proliferationresponsibilities are shown below.The Joint Warfighting Capabilities Assessment working group on Combating Terrorismassesses antiterrorism and force protection requirements, which include policy,operations, intelligence, information, training, technology, and resources.The Joint Warfighting Capabilities Assessment working group on Deterring andCountering Proliferation of WMD assesses warfighting capabilities and requirements toaddress the range of DoD efforts to deter and defend against potential adversaries’decision to acquire, threaten the use of, or employ WMD to achieve political or militarygoals.Additionally, the Army has been assigned executive agent responsibilities for two areasthat relate to combating the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.18Report on Activities and Programs for Countering Proliferation and NBC Terrorism, Counter-proliferationProgram Review Committee, May 1998.47