Arthur Atkins (Art) is a member of the Senior Executive Service from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). He joined the National Defense University’s College of International Strategic Affairs in 2023, serving as the Associate Dean of Students and DOE/NNSA Faculty Chair. Mr. Atkins started his career with DOE in 2000 and has held numerous positions within the Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation. Most recently, he served as the Assistant Deputy Administrator for Global Material Security beginning in 2015, leading programs that increase the security of nuclear and radioactive materials around the globe and enable the detection of illicit trafficking of those materials. These programs work with over 90 partner countries to improve the human and material capacity to protect materials that could be used in improvised nuclear and radiological weapons and to detect and interdict material outside of regulatory control. Additionally, this program includes an expansive effort to work with U.S. domestic licensees in private industry who possess radioactive materials to ensure security best practices and reduce target material holdings wherever possible.
Mr. Atkins also served as the Assistant Deputy Administrator for Global Threat Reduction from July 2013 through December 2014 and the Associate Assistant Deputy Administrator for the Office of International Material Protection and Cooperation from 2011 to 2013. Prior to becoming a member of the Senior Executive Service, Mr. Atkins held several management and staff positions overseeing nuclear material security cooperation with a variety of international counterparts. This began in the late 1990’s as part of the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction effort in Russia and Former Soviet Union, which included over 80 trips to assess and upgrade the security of nuclear warheads and materials at Russian Strategic Rocket Forces and Naval bases, as well as at civilian research and nuclear weapons development facilities. During his service at DOE, he has been recognized with six Secretary of Energy Achievement Awards and a Meritorious Service Award. Before his federal service, Mr. Atkins conducted arms control and nonproliferation research and analysis at Science Applications International Corporation and at the Arms Control Association, as a Scoville Peace Fellow.
Mr. Atkins holds a Master of Arts in National Security Studies from Georgetown University in Washington, DC, and a Bachelor of Arts in International Affairs from Lewis and Clark College in, Portland, Oregon. He is a native of Issaquah, Washington and current resident of Alexandria, Virginia. In his free time, he enjoys spending quality time with his two daughters, watching sports, homebrewing beer, and international travel.