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

Updated: Jul 15, 2010

CNS Celebrates 20th Anniversary at Embassy of Kazakhstan in Washington

June 9, 2010

The James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS) concluded the celebration of its 20th anniversary with a gala reception at the Washington, DC, Embassy of Kazakhstan, on the evening of June 8, 2010.

The celebration, which included a panel discussion and awards ceremony, brought together distinguished current and former U.S. officials and political figures, Washington-based CNS alumni, members of the Washington diplomatic corps, and leaders of the non-governmental Washington nonproliferation community. Monterey Institute of International Studies President Sunder Ramaswamy and members of the CNS International Advisory Board also participated.

The panel discussion, introduced by Ambassador of Kazakhstan to the United States Erlan Idrissov, featured remarks by Ambassador Jayantha Dhanapala, President of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, on the outcome of the recently concluded Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference. Senator Richard Lugar (R. Ind.), former Senator Sam Nunn, currently co-chairman and chief executive officer of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, and CNS founding director Dr. William C. Potter offered commentaries on Dhanapala's presentation.

The discussion was followed by the presentation by Dr. Potter of awards for Life-Time Achievement in the Field of Nonproliferation to Senators Lugar and Nunn. In presenting the awards, Potter stressed the extraordinary contribution made by the two leaders in conceiving and ensuring the enactment of the U.S. Cooperative Threat Reduction Program to address the dangers posed by the Soviet Union's nuclear legacy after that country broke apart in 1991. In the course of their remarks at the ceremony, Potter, Lugar, and Nunn each highlighted the important role that Kazakhstan had played during this period, in transferring nuclear weapons on its territory to Russia and transferring or rendering safe large quantities of weapons-grade nuclear materials in the country.

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