Dr William J. Toth

Group Leader, Threat Reduction Initiatives Group – Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Dr. Toth has worked in global security and nonproliferation programs since 1996, primarily for the Department of Energy’s Material Protection, Control and Accounting (MPC&A) program, but supporting and interfacing with other organizations also aligned with the global security mission. Dr. Toth has worked nearly his entire career with a focus on comprehensive, integral, safeguards and security program implementation. He has focused on these modes of behavior and understands security culture, not only externally applied, but as the fruit of adherence to good security practice. Dr. Toth was responsible for the creation and implementation of DOE’s guidance on MPC&A sustainability, which advocated for the sustainment of a level of protection. Dr. Toth has traveled to dozens of nuclear, radiological and other high-value-asset facilities worldwide and aided in security system improvement for many of them.

Prior to involvement in global security and nonproliferation programs (1986-1996), he worked as a systems engineer in the aerospace industry, and then a systems engineer at the Y-12 National Security Complex focusing on physical security systems.

Dr. Toth holds a BS in Electrical Engineering and an MS in Industrial Engineering where organizational development was focus of study. His doctoral research (PhD in Organizational Systems) involved the development of an integral model for socio-technological systems “wholeness.” This model draws from his engineering background, but more importantly from broader systems science concepts. The model serves as a map to integrate internal and externa phenomena and accommodates data, technical systems, culture, and the individual predispositions of malevolent actors.