Reducing Threats

These items in NMAD's collection reflect the diplomatic work to reduce threats to American security through nonproliferation, arms control, and more.

Showing 1–10 of 13 results

  • Item

    “Wing Tip” Missile Part Plaque

    In 1987, the United States and the Soviet Union signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, which required both parties to eliminate all nuclear and conventional ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with a certain striking range. This wing tip is from a ground-launched cruise missile destroyed at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in…

  • Item

    Marine Security Guard Uniform

    U.S. Marine Security Guards have worked for more than six decades to protect and safeguard people, property, and sensitive information at U.S. embassies and consulates around the world. More than 1,000 officers and enlisted U.S. Marines have been trained for this duty and are assigned to the Marine Corps Embassy Security Group.…

  • Item

    Cocaine Press

    This press was recovered in 2013 by the Counter-Drug Brigade of the Colombian Army in Timbiquí, Cauca. The operation, supported by the U.S. Department of State and the Drug Enforcement Agency, dismantled a laboratory and confiscated five metric tons of cocaine that was finished and ready for transport. This press takes “base”…

  • Item

    Portable X-Ray Machine

    X-Ray machines aren’t just used in hospitals and airports, they’re also a crucial tool used by the Diplomatic Security Service to detect threats to U.S. diplomatic missions around the world. This portable x-ray kit, manufactured in 1970s, was used by DSS Technical Security Officers to look for espionage devices, explosives, and other…

  • Item

    Man Portable Air Defense System (MANPADS)

    This inert SA-7 model of a Man Portable Air Defense System (MANPADS) shoulder-launched missile system is an example of a type of conventional weapon removed from circulation under programs funded by the U.S. Department of State. These programs support foreign governments’ efforts world-wide to remove, secure, and/or destroy these weapons that threaten…

  • Item

    Cococho Tool

    The Government of Peru’s eradication agency, CORAH, uses an innovative tool known as the cococho for manual eradication of the coca plant, the only required ingredient for cocaine. Senior Eradication Advisor Francisco “Paco” Alvarez developed the cococho while serving in Bolivia in the late 1990s.

  • Item

    U.S.-Russia Working Group Certificate

    Framed certificate commemorating a meeting of the U.S.-Russia Working Group on Afghanistan. The working group was convened in 2001 in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and represented the first significant joint effort between the U.S. and Russia on counter-terrorism.

  • Item

    Missile Shrapnel Commemorative Gift

    The piece of jagged metal atop this item was part of a missile destroyed under the terms of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty of 1987, signed by President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Small pieces of metal were salvaged from one of the many nuclear weapons disabled and destroyed…

  • Item

    Sinai Field Mission Uniform

    After the 1973 war between Egypt and Israel, Israel withdrew from the strategic Giddi Pass and Mitla Pass in the Sinai Peninsula in exchange for monitoring by third parties. The United States established the Sinai Field Mission (SFM) to monitor the number of personnel, weapons, and vehicles that were going into the…

  • Item

    “Soviet World Outlook” Booklet

    This booklet was a resource utilized by staff of the interagency committee called the Active Measures Working Group, which began work at the Department of State in the early 1980s. The Working Group was devoted to analyses of and responses to Soviet disinformation campaigns aimed at discrediting or weakening the United States…