PVP #16 Guest: Fred Celec

The Honorable Fred S. Celec was confirmed by the Senate as the Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Nuclear and Chemical and Biological Defense Programs (ATSD(NCB)) on July 24, 2008. In this position, he was the principal staff assistant and advisor to the Secretary of Defense and Deputy Secretary of Defense and the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics for all matters concerning the formulation of policy and plans for nuclear, chemical, and biological defense programs. As ATSD(NCB), Celec was also directly responsible to the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense for matters associated with nuclear weapons safety and security, chemical weapons demilitarization, chemical and biological defense programs, and smoke and obscurants.

Prior to his appointment by then President Bush, Mr. Celec was part of the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) staff working for the congressionally mandated Electro-Magnetic Pulse Commission. While at IDA he worked on a variety of tasks including the U.S. capability to exercise treaty monitoring rights under the Threshold Test Ban Treaty, the DOD’s Nuclear Weapons Physical Security Program to protect our nation’s nuclear weapons, and development of an Interagency Program to secure radiological and nuclear materials of potential threat to the U.S. worldwide.