Everyone who served in the military is familiar with the U.S. Army’s most elite forces: the Rangers, Green Berets and even Delta Force. Each has unique capabilities and a unique mission, and they are highly trained to execute those missions. It’s no surprise that the United States has called on them to conduct operations in some of the most dangerous scenarios – but what about a doomsday scenario?
Luckily, outside of Hollywood, there hasn’t been a rogue nuclear weapon or a sabotaged nuclear plant (at least, none that we were ever told about). But if such a situation were to arise and we needed a force uniquely trained to tackle that kind of emergency, the President of the United States would call on the Army’s Nuclear Disablement Team, or NDT.
NDTs are really specialized soldiers. So specialized, in fact, that there are only three teams who do this kind of work. Army mumbo jumbo describes the NDT mission as “contributing to the nation’s strategic deterrence by staying ready to exploit and disable nuclear and radiological Weapons of Mass Destruction infrastructure and components to deny near-term capability to adversaries.”
What this means in the actual English Americans speak in everyday life is that these teams are standing by in case anyone, be it a country, a terrorist or some other jerk decides to come try to nuke an American city. With the help of Army Special Forces, they will forcibly enter an area to disable nuclear weapons or a weapons component before the enemy can effectively use it. They’re basically a nuclear bomb squad who are always training for the worst of nightmare scenarios.
Each of the three NDTs are stationed at Aberdeen Proving Ground, and are composed of Nuclear and Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction officers, an Explosive Ordnance Disposal officer, a Nuclear Medical Science officer and a Health Physics noncommissioned officer.
Capt. John M. Prevost, an Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal officer from Nuclear Disablement Team 2, told reporters that the NDTS “increase the safety of nuclear infrastructure, enabling freedom of maneuver to the ground component commander and reducing the risk of a potential contamination event.”
By “potential contamination event,” he means the NDTs can prevent nuclear power reactors from being programmed or forced to spew radiation into the air, and keep dirty bombs from blowing up and spreading radioactive material. They can also stop fallout from a nuclear blast from irradiating large parts of the country by ensuring nuclear bombs are prevented from being set off, triggered or otherwise exploding.
In June 2024, the NDTs were specially trained with the 7th Special Forces Group and the 75th Ranger Regiment for a doomsday-like scenario. In that kind of emergency, the Rangers and/or Green Berets would be charged with helping the nuclear bomb squad fight their way into an area where a nuclear weapon is suspected. The nuclear experts would enter this zone wearing nuclear protective gear and respirators, severely hampering their ability to perform in a firefight.
“You’re talking about a potentially radioactive or contaminated environment that they would have to go into, which can be daunting,” Steven Modugno, a spokesperson for the 20th Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, Explosives Command (CBRNE) told Task&Purpose. “But the teams are self-deployable. They can go in, recon the site, collect samples, and identify them to figure out what materials are there. Like what hazards may be present and if there’s a threat.
Anyone joining the military who thinks they might have a knack for joining the regular bombs squad (called explosive ordnance disposal) might consider stepping up their bomb-defusing goals and learning that craft with weapons of mass destruction.