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Securing all fissile material around the world is considerably more challenging than locking it up to a “gold standard.” The first section of this article describes those challenges, which are both technical and political. Plutonium and highly enriched uranium (HEU) are used in weapons, research, power reactors, and some industrial applications in forms that can be turned into weapons-usable materials with routine chemical processing. Such materials are processed, shaped, transported, stored, and used, and some inevitably wind up in waste streams. After exploring why securing fissile material is more difficult than is generally appreciated, the author then goes on to assess the components of a comprehensive safeguard system, addressing both the general and specific challenges posed by the current threat environment.