Training the next generation of policy experts, and promoting substantive dialogue between policy makers and think tank experts on nonproliferation, disarmament and arms control.

Updated: Oct 8, 2008

Visiting Fellows Program

Established in 1991, the Visiting Fellows Program assists young and mid-career professionals in various foreign ministries and national export control bodies, as well as researchers, academics, and journalists, to have a positive impact on arms control and nonproliferation policy in their respective countries.

Originally targeted at the former Soviet Union and then China, the program trained more than 180 fellows from Russia and the NIS and more than 60 specialists from China. More recently, trainees from Korea, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and South Africa have participated in the program.

During their two or three months of extensive training, fellows attend a lecture series covering nonproliferation topics such as:

• the NPT and Nuclear Nonproliferation Regime
• Role of the United Nations in preventing WMD proliferation
• Threats of WMD Terrorism and Measures to Combat Them
• Theory of International Regimes
• Strategic Nuclear Weapons and Arms Control
• Biological Weapons Overview

[View the full list of lectures.]

They also participate in graduate-level courses in the International Policy Studies masters program at the Monterey Institute of International Studies. These include:

• Intoduction to WMD Proliferation
• Arms Control Simulation
• Biological and Chemical Weapons and Arms Control Seminar

Lectures and courses are taught by the CNS staff and academic faculty, as well as by outside speakers. New technologies have provided the opportunity to have lectures delivered by experts from all over the world.

Another significant portion of their training includes an independent research work on the topic of fellows' choice and its presentation near completion of the program.

The Visiting Fellows Program is offered three times a year.