Mr. Drew Walter, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear Matters, will talk on "The Defense Nuclear Enterprise," Friday, Oct 15, at 10:30 am

October 15, 2021

(10:30 am - Noon)
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Abstract
The Department of Defense continues to improve components of the nuclear enterprise to maintain a credible nuclear deterrent, identify sources of nuclear threats, and ensure access to state of the art materials. Key to those improvements is partnership with other government agencies and investment in a skilled workforce. Mr. Walter will discuss opportunities for academic and industry research that impact the Defense nuclear enterprise.

Bio
Mr. Drew Walter is a career member of the Senior Executive Service and serves as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear Matters. In this role, he is responsible for carrying out the Office of Nuclear Matters mission “to ensure the continued credibility, effectiveness, safety, and security of the U.S. deterrent in order to deter nuclear and nonnuclear attack; assure U.S. allies and partners; achieve U.S. objectives if deterrence fails; and hedge against an uncertain future.” Nuclear Matters is the Department of Defense (DoD) focal point for a wide range of issues related to the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile, nuclear counterterrorism, and nuclear counterproliferation.

Before being assigned as DASD(NM), Mr. Walter served as Senior Advisor to the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, The Honorable Alan Shaffer. In this role, Mr. Walter supported the Deputy Under Secretary’s efforts to integrate efforts across the Department related to nuclear modernization, and sustainment.

Prior to joining DoD, Mr. Walter served as a professional staff member with the Committee on Armed Services in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Walter began his career at Sandia National Laboratories, where he was a Senior Member of the Technical Staff. His responsibilities at Sandia included conducting physical security assessments for U.S. nuclear weapons, developing and analyzing new security technologies and novel security assessment methodologies, and conducting special studies for laboratory executives.

Walter holds Bachelor’s and Master’s of Science degrees in Mechanical Engineering, both from the Rochester Institute of Technology.