AFIT / School of Strategic Force Studies / Department of Nuclear Studies

Department of Nuclear Studies

Vision

To be a preeminent leader in nuclear professional continuing education whose graduates are prepared to thrive in a Joint All Domain security environment defined by rapid technological change.

Mission

“Develop Nuclear Mission Professionals with a comprehensive understanding of nuclear deterrence, assurance, and surety as well as imbue the critical knowledge and advocacy of nuclear policy, doctrine, planning, strategy, sustainment, and modernization in the Joint All Domain age of great power competition.” Our set of five nuclear certification process courses collectively apprise students of ongoing Air Force efforts to revitalize the defense industrial base through nuclear sustainment, modernization, and recapitalization strategies that sees the Department investing $2T over the next 15 years. Our set of Nuclear 010 through Nuclear 400 courses interrelate the roles of junior, mid-level, and senior leader management to deterrence theory, nuclear policy, and nuclear systems that sustain our warrior ethos through the nuclear mission set.

The Air Force Institute of Technology School of Strategic Force Studies Department of Nuclear Studies (AFIT/EXA) at Kirtland AFB, NM has conducted Nuclear Professional Continuing Education (NPCE) programs, Nuclear Certification Process (NCP), and Nuclear Certified Equipment (NCE) courses since its inception via a Commander, Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC) memo on 7 October 2004. In 2011, the Nuclear Issues Resolution and Integration Board and the Nuclear Oversight Board endorsed an Air Education and Training Command (AETC) proposal to establish a three-tier NPCE plan to rebuild nuclear expertise through education, training, and intentional and purposeful development of nuclear mission professionals. Ownership of the nuclear courses transferred to Air University's (AU) Counterproliferation Center the very next year and, in April 2014, to the Air University Center for Unconventional Weapons Studies (CUWS). A mere 18 months later, AU initiated actions to transfer NPCE management to the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT). On 1 April 2016, AFIT designated the Department of Nuclear Studies as Air Operating Location-Alpha (OL-A) under operational control of the AFIT Chancellor and Director (AFIT/CL) with administrative control given to the School of Strategic Force Studies (AFIT/EX).

Today, the Department of Nuclear Studies is creating innovative approaches to education and delivering curricula to more students annually (4,000 +) than ever. AFIT/EXA added UNCLASSIFIED distance learning education to its curriculum on 1 February 2021 and CLASSIFIED distance learning education to its program on 25 July 2022. Further, the addition of formative assessment to its in-residence Nuclear 200 course has improved student learning by about 62 percent on average since its introduction in March 2022. The Department birthed AFIT's first micro-credential program, Nuclear 399, on 1 January 2023 with the first beta class getting underway on 2 October 2023. The transfer of nuclear certification instructor billets from AFMC to AETC in FY 2022 and FY2023 has facilitated exponential growth in the Department's ability to deliver NCP and NCE education and training to Airmen, Guardians, and Combatant Command and Combined forces across the globe.