Senator Sam Nunn, MIIS President Clara Yu, and CNS Director Dr. William C. Potter. GIVING TO THE INSTITUTE

December 10, 2007

Dear Friends:

During the past year, you have witnessed new and continuing nuclear weapons challenges around the globe involving both states and terrorist organizations. Thousands of nuclear weapons remain on hair trigger alert while disarmament and nonproliferation norms erode in the face of widespread ignorance and apathy.

Is there anything that can be done? Is there anything that each of us, personally, can do?

I believe the answer is yes. There has never been a more important moment to take action. It is time to demonstrate the priority we attach to preventing the spread and use of nuclear weapons by building a global nonproliferation network, one person at a time.

The James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS), a part of the Monterey Institute of International Studies, is the world's largest non-governmental organization dedicated entirely to education and research on nonproliferation issues. With over 40 full-time staff and 50 graduate student researchers, and with offices in Monterey, Washington, D.C., and Almaty, Kazakhstan, the Center's mission is to train the next generation of nonproliferation specialists at home and abroad and to disseminate timely information and analysis.

CNS is recognized worldwide as the premier training ground for nonproliferation experts. Our alumni include leaders in multiple fields: policymaking, diplomacy, science, journalism, education, and policy analysis. Through an integrated program of coursework, research, and hands-on experience in the field, CNS trains our graduates to enter the workplace ready and able to make a significant difference. I can tell you personally that it is the energy and idealism of these young people that give me the greatest hope and inspiration.

Here are a few examples of the impact that CNS staff and alumni are having every day:

• Policy Influence: CNS facilitated the signing in September 2006 of a treaty to create the Central Asian Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone, a commitment by Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan to keep nuclear weapons out of this potentially explosive region. CNS staff members were involved for eight years in this difficult negotiation. When the treaty was finally signed, CNS staff was present, by special invitation from the governments, recognizing the Center's contribution to the historic nonproliferation and disarmament accomplishment.
• Public Awareness: CNS continues to build broad-based public awareness of and understanding about critical proliferation challenges. When nonproliferation stories like the U.S.-India nuclear deal and the new National Intelligence Estimate on Iran were breaking, the world's media called CNS for analyses and commentary. But we're not waiting for the press to call -- public outreach is a component of everything we do. Last June, for example, we hosted a community forum on "Nuclear Nonproliferation Regime in Crisis?" featuring Ambassadors Jayantha Dhanapala, Rüdiger Lüdeking, Paul Meyer, Tiber Tóth, and Dr. James Martin. CNS also convened a public forum in October in which I moderated a discussion with former Senator Sam Nunn on "Reducing Global Nuclear and Biological Threats."

  Featured public forum panelists: Amb. Jayantha Dhanapala, Amb. Rüdiger Lüdeking, Dr. James Martin, Dr. William Potter, Amb. Tibor Tóth, Amb. Linton Brooks, Amb. Paul Meyer.

• Education: CNS is changing the way higher education addresses nonproliferation. On October 27, 2007, the Monterey Institute celebrated the endowment of the world's first professorship in nonproliferation studies. I am privileged to have been appointed to the endowed chair, which is named in honor of Senators Sam Nunn and Richard Lugar.
• Policy-Oriented Research: CNS this past year continued its research on nuclear terrorism to analyze the major impediments to elimination of highly-enriched uranium (HEU) in the civilian nuclear sector. Because it is easier to obtain and can be used in crude nuclear explosives, HEU is the nuclear material of choice for terrorists. CNS has worked with a number of national governments and international organizations to develop an action plan to minimize its availability and use globally.

Today's urgent proliferation challenges and nonproliferation opportunities make your support of CNS more important than ever before. As former senator Sam Nunn said in Monterey this past October, "we are in a race between cooperation and catastrophe." Now more than ever, we must better understand why additional states are pursuing nuclear capabilities and how we can advance the disarmament process.

No other nongovernmental or educational organization is better-positioned than the Center for Nonproliferation Studies to provide that understanding and a practical nonproliferation and disarmament action plan.

Please join us in this vital work by making an end-of-the year gift to the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute. This support is one individual action, combined with those of other people worldwide committed to nonproliferation, to bring us closer to a safer, more peaceful world.

Sincerely,

William C. Potter
Director
James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies and
Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies and
Sam Nunn and Richard Lugar Professor of Nonproliferation Studies
Monterey Institute of International Studies