Sandia National Laboratories is one of the primary providers of the science, technology, and engineering capabilities needed to ensure both US and global security. Its mandate has moved far beyond its original weapons-centered mission—the development of nuclear weapons—and now encompasses complex economic, energy, environmental, and nonproliferation issues. From Nuclear Weapons to Global Security chronicles the history of Sandia, from its origins during World War II to its current multifaceted role at the forefront of innovation.
Justin Quinn Olmstead is a historian at Sandia National Laboratories and a senior fellow at the Armed Services Institute Center for Military Life at Thomas University. Leland Johnson (1937–2014) served as corporate historian at Sandia in 1994–1996.
"Sandia epitomizes the mission of the Department of Energy's seventeen national laboratories, the scientific shock troops ready to solve a problem, whether it is with the weapons stockpile, battery technology, or a pandemic. The story of Sandia is thrilling to read: It is about can-do and have-done. Its history is the history of the smart and the dedicated in service to the United States and the world, high purpose being fulfilled." —Llewellyn King, Executive Producer and Host of White House Chronicle on PBS
"This comprehensive history takes us from Sandia's beginning as an outpost of the Los Alamos laboratory to it becoming a national, independent, multipurpose lab. Covering important events that changed national security missions—the Sputnik shock, the Vietnam War, the energy crisis of the 1970s, the end of the Cold War, 9/11, and more, right up to the present—From Nuclear Weapons to Global Security is an encyclopedia of national technological needs and the research carried out to address them." —Robert P. Crease, Stony Brook University
"The breadth of both time and scientific contribution covered is impressive…. This is the book that I would turn to first to do research on Sandia or its scientific or technological developments." —Kathryn Boehlefeld, US Air Command and Staff College
