The Honorable Guy B. Roberts joined the Department of Defense as the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical, and Biological Defense Programs (ASD(NCB)) on November 30, 2017.

As the ASD(NCB), Mr. Roberts is the principal advisor to the Secretary of Defense, the Deputy Secretary of Defense, and the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment for matters concerning nuclear, chemical, and biological defense programs.

Mr. Roberts also leads the enterprise responsible for ensuring the U.S. Nuclear Deterrent is safe, secure and effective; developing and sustaining capabilities to counter improvised and weapons of mass destruction threats, effects, and proliferation; and ensuring DoD compliance with nuclear, chemical, and biological treaties and agreements.

Prior to joining the Trump Administration, Mr. Roberts led a distinguished career in the United States Marine Corps as an infantry officer, judge advocate, and staff officer. He went on to serve as the Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Arms Control and Nonproliferation Policy for the Department of Defense, and then as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Weapons of Mass Destruction Policy and Director for Nuclear Deterrence Policy before becoming an independent consultant and adjunct professor at Mary Washington.

Mr. Roberts earned a Bachelor’s of Arts in Political Science from Arizona State University, a law degree from the University of Denver, and he holds masters’ degrees in international and comparative law from Georgetown University, in international relations from the University of Southern California, and in strategic studies from the Naval War College where he graduated with highest distinction and won the Stephen B. Luce Award for academic achievement.

He is admitted to practice in Colorado, California, Arizona, and before the Military Court of Criminal Appeals and the US Supreme Court, and he is a member of the International Law of War Society.

Mr. Peter Fanta assumed the duties of Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear Matters in February of 2018.

A member of the Senior Executive Service, his responsibilities include: nuclear enterprise governance; all aspects of nuclear weapons acquisition, modernization, surety, survivability, reliability, security, safety, weapons management, weapon integration, nuclear incident response; and coordination of all activities relating to the nuclear weapons stockpile. Included in these responsibilities are countering nuclear threats and international nuclear agreements.

Mr. Fanta's career includes over 37 years on active duty as a naval officer to include multiple command tours of operational sea and land forces, as well as staff tours on the Navy and Joint Chiefs Staffs. His operational experience has included every world region with the exception of the Antarctic. Senior operational tours have included command of Navy and Marine forces in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Middle East. His senior staff tours have included Director of Warfare Integration, Director of Surface Warfare, and Deputy Director for Resources and Acquisition for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. His operational and staff experience has included tours in nuclear weapons operations, security, resourcing, support and sustainment, as well as nuclear enterprise oversight. He retired from the U.S. Naval Service as a Flag Officer.

A native of Manitowoc, Wisconsin he graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy, earned an M.P.A. from Harvard University as the Moreau Scholar, and a Master of National Security and Strategic Studies from the U.S. Naval War College.

His awards include the Distinguished Service Medal, Defense Superior Service Medals, Legions of Merit, Meritorious Service Medals, and various other awards and unit commendations.

In 2008, Dr. David Christian (“Chris”) Hassell was named as an Assistant Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), where he served as Director of the FBI Laboratory until May 2014. During his tenure, he led major efforts to expand the Laboratory’s role in National Security and Intelligence, including the Terrorist Explosive Device Analytical Center (TEDAC) and other technical areas related to Weapons of Mass Destruction. In addition, he strengthened and streamlined FBI programs in traditional forensics, particularly in such rapidly evolving areas as DNA, chemistry and the use of instrumentation to augment pattern-based forensic techniques (e.g., fingerprints, firearms, and documents). He also led many engagements with international counterparts, with focus on enhancing counterterrorism interactions with “Five-Eyes” partners, as well as new technical collaborations in Asia, Latin America and with such key multilateral groups as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and INTERPOL.

Dr. Hassell joined the Bureau from the Oklahoma State University Multispectral Laboratories, where he led Research, Development, Testing and Evaluation. He previously served as Assistant Vice President for Science and Technology at Applied Marine Technologies Incorporated. Prior to that position, Dr. Hassell led programs in analytical chemistry, instrumentation development, and nuclear weapons forensics at Los Alamos National Laboratory. This also included serving as an intelligence analyst with the Department of Energy Field Intelligence Element for a variety of issues related to Chemical, Biological, Nuclear, Radiological and Explosives (CBRNE) threats. During this time, he also served as a subject matter expert for chemical and biological weapons with the Iraq Survey Group in Baghdad.

Earlier in his career, Dr. Hassell was a Senior Research Chemist at DuPont, developing online analytical instrumentation for chemical and bioprocess facilities for both research and manufacturing. This included extensive R&D on fermentation-based processes for manufacturing small molecule commodity chemicals.

Dr. Hassell received his PhD in analytical chemistry from the University of Texas at Austin. He is a Fellow of the Society for Applied Spectroscopy and a member of the American Chemical Society and the International Association of Chiefs of Police.

Vayl S. Oxford, a member of the senior executive service (SES), is the Director of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) located on Fort Belvoir, Virginia. The DTRA mission is to safeguard the U.S. and its allies from weapons of mass destruction (WMD), specifically chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and high-yield explosive threats, and improvised threats by providing the means to prevent and counter the proliferation of WMD and improvised threats and to reduce, eliminate, and mitigate their effects. This includes helping ensure the U.S. maintains a safe, secure, effective and credible nuclear weapons deterrent. As the DoD Combat Support Agency for the Counter WMD and improvised threats mission, DTRA develops and provides operational support for associated capabilities to warfighters worldwide.

Mr. Oxford is no stranger to DTRA, having served in several different positons with DTRA and its legacy organizations, first as a U.S. Air Force officer and then as a DoD civilian. Before being named DTRA Director, he was the National Security Executive Policy Advisor at the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) where he was responsible for guiding the strategic direction and vision for national security issues. Before joining PNNL, Mr. Oxford spent a short time in private industry after 35 years of public service that combined time in the military and as a government civilian employee, almost all of it focused on countering weapons of mass destruction.

He served in multiple positions in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from 2003 to 2009, as the Policy Advisor to the Under Secretary of Science & Technology, as Acting Director of the Homeland Security Advanced Research Projects Agency, and as the first Director of the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO), which was created to be the single entity in the U.S. government to protect the nation against nuclear terrorism. Appointed by President George W. Bush and reporting to the DHS Secretary, he led the development of the National Strategy to Combat Nuclear Terrorism.

Prior to his appointment to DHS, Mr. Oxford served as the Director for Counterproliferation at the National Security Council, where he supported the development of the President’s National Strategy to Combat WMD, the policy and strategy for WMD interdiction, and represented the NSC in the development of the National Biodefense Strategy. He chaired the interagency working group for Operation Iraqi Freedom to develop policies for combating WMD in Iraq, to include developing the initial concept for WMD exploitation and elimination, and the plan for foreign consequence management to protect civilian populations from potential Iraqi use of WMD.

From 1987 to 2002, he held several positions with DTRA and its legacy organizations (Defense Special Weapons Agency and Defense Nuclear Agency). Highlights include directing a 300 member staff and a $400M RDT&E program to defeat WMD targets. He also initiated a joint program with SOCOM to develop specialized capabilities to exploit and defeat WMD threats. As Director for Counterproliferation, he led DoD’s counterforce efforts to identify, characterize and defeat WMD facilities, including oversight of two Advanced Concept Technology Demonstrations.

Mr. Oxford received his Bachelor of Science in General Engineering from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and his Master of Science in Aeronautical Engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.

Mr. Oxford has numerous military and civilian awards, including the Presidential Meritorious Rank Award and the Distinguished Public Service Award for his contributions to Homeland Security.

Dr. Charles J. Ball currently serves as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Threat Reduction and Arms Control (DASD/TRAC). In this capacity, he is the principal advisor to the Assistant Secretary of Defense (ASD) for Nuclear, Chemical, and Biological Defense Programs (NCB) for: acquisition oversight, implementation, and compliance with nuclear, biological, and chemical treaties; cooperative threat reduction; chemical demilitarization programs; and building global partner capacity to counter weapons of mass destruction (CWMD).

Prior to joining the Department of Defense, Dr. Ball worked at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) for over twenty years.

At the Laboratory, he was the Deputy Program Development Director for Defense, serving in a variety of policy and leadership positions at LLNL. Dr. Ball led major efforts to expand the Laboratory’s role in supporting the DoD counter proliferation, counterterrorism and Anti-Access/Area Denial (A2AD) missions.

He initiated an effort to apply the Laboratory’s conventional weapons expertise to develop very low collateral damage weapons for enhanced effectiveness in counterterrorism operations, as well as tailored munitions for other military contingencies necessitating precision effects. In addition, Dr. Ball applied Laboratory expertise in hypersonics to address critical A2AD challenges.

He was responsible for an innovative program to utilize technologies associated with the nuclear weapons stockpile program for use by conventional forces to close critical capability gaps and enhance US air superiority.

When he served as Deputy Program Manager for the Counter Proliferation Analysis and Planning System (CAPS) program, Dr. Ball focused the program on specialized analysis to support the Special Operations Command CWMD mission.

Dr. Ball received his BA from Duke University and his PhD from the London School of Economics, after which he was a post-doctoral fellow at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

He has served as an intelligence officer in the US Navy Reserve since 1996.

Rear Admiral Scott Jerabek is Deputy Director of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) headquartered on Fort Belvoir, Virginia. DTRA’s mission is to safeguard the U.S. and its allies from WMD, specifically chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear/high-yield explosive threats by providing the means to prevent and counter WMD proliferation and reduce, eliminate, and mitigate their effects. This includes helping ensure the U.S. maintains a safe, secure, effective and credible nuclear weapons deterrent. As the DoD Combat Support Agency for the Counter WMD mission, DTRA develops and provides operational support for associated capabilities to warfighters worldwide.

The son of a Korean War veteran, Admiral Jerabek enlisted in the Navy in 1979 and then commissioned through the Navy Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) at the University of Nebraska. His first sea assignment was aboard USS Gray (FF 1054) as gunnery officer, legal officer and damage control assistant. He was later assigned aboard USS Missouri (BB 63) as turret II officer and nuclear weapons security officer. He served ashore as executive officer of the Navy Reserve Center in Kansas City, Mo., and officer in charge of Mobile Inshore Undersea Warfare Unit 114.

He was the senior Navy representative in the Air Tactical Operation Center, Joint Task Force Southwest Asia in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for Operation Southern Watch. In 2003 he was a Task Unit Commander in Umm Qasr, Iraq, in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation Enduring Freedom, responsible for the defense of Iraq’s strategic port. He was Commodore, Maritime Expeditionary Security Squadron 1 in San Diego from 2006 to 2008, and commanded an Inshore Boat Unit, a Naval Special Warfare detachment. He was the director of the Navy Element, U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. He was the commanding officer of the U.S. Forces, Japan Detachment, and Chief of Staff, U.S. Forces, Japan, during Operation Tomodachi. His first flag tour was as Deputy Commander, Navy Warfare Development Command. He was commander, Navy Warfare Development Command from 2013 to 2014 and recently served as Director, J7 (Theater Engagement), U.S. Southern Command from 2014 to 2016.

Admiral Jerabek holds a Master of Foreign Affairs from the School of Advanced Military Studies, Operational Arts Fellowship, U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kan., and a Master of Business Administration from Baker University, Baldwin City, Kan.