Recent and upcoming nonproliferation activities, events, and announcements involving the CNS center, staff, and programs.

Updated: Nov 3, 2011

CNS Co-Chairs Wilton Park Conference on Nuclear Trafficking

The James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, together with the Institute for Science and International Security, and the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, chaired a conference October 27-30 on Curtailing Nuclear Commodity Trafficking: Deterrence, Detection, and Disruption. The meeting, which was held at Wilton Park, Steyning, UK, was sponsored by the U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency.

The three-day conference featured European, Middle Eastern, and U.S. nonproliferation experts, and examined both existing and emerging tools to battle illicit trafficking in nuclear commodities.

Participants focused on non-military means of stopping nuclear proliferation, including blocking proliferation transaction financing, asset freezes and seizures, interdictions during transit, and better use of the national and UN sanction "designation" process. The conference also examined challenges to the existing system of export control enforcement, explored the effectiveness of "keystone" commodity embargoes, and approaches to making nuclear commodity smuggling an international crime.

CNS Deputy Director Leonard Spector was principal organizer of the conference, and attendees included officials from the International Atomic Energy Agency, the French Ministries of Defense and Foreign Affairs, the European Commission, and the U.S. Departments of State and Energy.