Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, located in the San Francisco Bay Area, is a premier applied science laboratory that is part of the National Nuclear Security Administration within the Department of Energy. LLNL's mission is strengthening national security by developing and applying cutting-edge science, technology, and engineering that respond with vision, quality, integrity, and technical excellence to scientific issues of national importance. The Laboratory's science and engineering are being applied to achieve breakthroughs for counterterrorism and nonproliferation, defense and intelligence, energy and environmental security. The world-class programs and capabilities at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory span one square mile, what many consider to be "the smartest square mile on Earth."​