The threat definition organizes information on all potential threats to a facility.  It is the information product at the base of designing a nuclear security system and consists of information about the potential targets, motivations, and capabilities of an adversary. 

The process for constructing a threat definition has three main components:

1. Listing the information needed: The designers must decide on what information is needed for the threat definition, so collection can be targeted effectively.  Necessary adversary information can include: motivations, potential goals based upon targets, tactics, groups size, and capabilities.   
2. Collecting information: Threat information can be collected from a multitude of sources such as crime statistics, professional organizations, published literature,  government directives, etc.  This information should incorporate facility specific considerations such as condition inside and outside the facility.
3. Organizing the information into a usableformat: The collected information is arranged into a usable product that allows designer to easily view and assess critical adversary information such as a group's motivation, capabilities, target, etc..