Combating Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction

Department of EnergyHistorical BackgroundThe history of the Department of Energy (DOE) is intimately linked to the development ofU.S. nuclear proliferation-related policy. Even before the first detonation of an atomicbomb, the scientists of the Manhattan Project warned the War Department about thepotential dangers of proliferation. In 1945, the War Department’s Interim Committee onpost-war nuclear policy debated the alternative virtues of international cooperation versusstrict control over information about nuclear technology.As part of the reorganization of defense activities after the end of World War II, the U.S.Government decided that production of nuclear weapons should be the responsibility of acivilian agency rather than of the military establishment. The Atomic Energy Act of 1946established a five-member civilian Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) to take over theassets and responsibilities of the Manhattan Project on January 1, 1947.The 1946 Act also sought to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons by establishingstrict controls over fissionable material. Ownership of all fissionable material was vested inthe AEC, and its possession was forbidden to persons outside the jurisdiction and controlof the United States. The Act also prohibited the direct or indirect production of fissionablematerial outside the United States. These provisions made it very difficult for the AEC toauthorize peaceful nuclear cooperation with other nations.A major policy change was announced in President Eisenhower’s 1953 “Atoms for Peace”speech to the United Nations. Recognizing that the United States no longer had amonopoly on nuclear technology, the President proposed to share nuclear materials andtechnology with other nations, provided that they undertook an obligation not to developnuclear weapons. As originally proposed, this cooperation was to be carried out under thecontrol of an international organization that eventually became the International AtomicEnergy Agency (IAEA).In 1954, Congress enacted amendments to the Atomic Energy Act to permitimplementation of the Atoms for Peace program. Beginning in the late 1950s, a network ofpeaceful nuclear cooperation agreements was negotiated, setting a pattern later followedby other nuclear supplier states. Initially, these agreements provided for safeguardsinspections to be conducted by the United States to verify that nuclear material of U.S.origin was not being diverted to military purposes. To carry out this responsibility, theAtomic Energy Commission developed the material accounting and control concepts andinspections techniques that underlie international safeguards to this day. In the late 1950sand early 1960s, the AEC worked closely with the IAEA to help the latter develop its ownsafeguards capability. This assistance to IAEA safeguards has been maintained by the60