Richard Green Lugar was an American politician who served as a United States Senator from Indiana from 1977 to 2013. He was a member of the Republican Party.
Samuel Augustus Nunn Jr. is an American politician who served as a United States Senator from Georgia (1972–1997) as a member of the Democratic Party.
The United States is known to have possessed three types of weapons of mass destruction:nuclear weapons,chemical weapons,and biological weapons. The U.S. is the only country to have used nuclear weapons in combat,when it detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II. It had secretly developed the earliest form of the atomic weapon during the 1940s under the title "Manhattan Project". The United States pioneered the development of both the nuclear fission and hydrogen bombs. It was the world's first and only nuclear power for four years,from 1945 until 1949,when the Soviet Union produced its own nuclear weapon. The United States has the second-largest number of nuclear weapons in the world,after the Russian Federation.
Robert Michael Gates is an American intelligence analyst and university president who served as the 22nd United States secretary of defense from 2006 to 2011. He was originally appointed by president George W. Bush and was retained for service by President Barack Obama. Gates began his career serving as an officer in the United States Air Force but was quickly recruited by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Gates served for 26 years in the CIA and the National Security Council,and was Director of Central Intelligence under President George H. W. Bush. After leaving the CIA,Gates became president of Texas A&M University and was a member of several corporate boards. Gates served as a member of the Iraq Study Group,the bipartisan commission co-chaired by James A. Baker III and Lee H. Hamilton,that studied the lessons of the Iraq War.
As the collapse of the Soviet Union appeared imminent,the United States and their NATO allies grew concerned of the risk of nuclear weapons held in the Soviet republics falling into enemy hands. The Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) program was initiated by the Nunn–Lugar Act which was authored and cosponsored by Sens. Sam Nunn (D-GA) and Richard Lugar (R-IN). According to the CTR website,the purpose of the CTR Program was originally "to secure and dismantle weapons of mass destruction and their associated infrastructure in former Soviet Union states." As the peace dividend grew old,an alternative 2009 explanation of the program was "to secure and dismantle weapons of mass destruction in states of the former Soviet Union and beyond".
Ashton Baldwin Carter is an American public policy professor who served as the 25th secretary of defense from February 2015 to January 2017. He is currently director of the Belfer Center for Science &International Affairs at Harvard Kennedy School.
The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) is a combat support agency within the United States Department of Defense (DoD) for countering weapons of mass destruction. According to the agency's Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2018 to 2022,the DTRA mission "enables DoD and the U.S. Government to prepare for and combat weapons of mass destruction and improvised threats and to ensure nuclear deterrence." The agency is headquartered in Fort Belvoir,Virginia.
The Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) is a nonpartisan,nonprofit organization founded in 2001 by former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn and philanthropist Ted Turner in the United States,which works to prevent catastrophic attacks and accidents with weapons of mass destruction and disruption –especially nuclear,biological,radiological,chemical,and cybersecurity.
Joseph Cirincione is a distinguished fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft in Washington,D.C. He previously served for over 12 years as the president of the Ploughshares Fund,a public grant-making foundation focused on nuclear nonproliferation and conflict resolution.
Council for a Livable World is a Washington,D.C.-based non-profit advocacy organization dedicated to eliminating the U.S. arsenal of nuclear weapons. Its stated aim is for "progressive national security policies and helping elect congressional candidates who support them." The Council was founded in 1962 as the Council for Abolishing War by Hungarian nuclear physicist LeóSzilárd. Its research arm,the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation,provides research to members of Congress and their staff. In February,2016,John F. Tierney was appointed the executive director of the Council for a Livable World and the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation,the council’s affiliated education and research organization. For more than 50 years,the Council for a Livable World has been advocating for a more principled approach to U.S. national security and foreign policy.
The Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear,Chemical &Biological Defense Programs,or ASD(NCB),is the principal adviser to the Secretary of Defense,Deputy Secretary of Defense and the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment on policy and plans for nuclear,chemical,and biological defense programs.
Bonnie Denise Jenkins is an expert on arms control and nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction and currently serves as the Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs. During the Obama Administration,she was the U.S. Department of State's Coordinator for Threat Reduction Programs in the Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation.
Bernadette M. Meehan is an American diplomat who served as a spokesperson for the United States National Security Council. She has since worked as chief international officer for the Obama Foundation. On July 9,2021,Meehan was nominated to serve as United States Ambassador to Chile.
Elizabeth D. Sherwood-Randall is an American government official who serves as the 11th Assistant to the President for Homeland Security for U.S. President Joe Biden.
Soviet Scientists Immigration Act of 1992 granted authorization for engineers and scientists from the post-Soviet states to acquire employment within America. The Act of Congress implemented specific provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act providing United States visas for former Soviet Union foreign nationals classified as scientific immigrants being employed in the United States.
Harold Palmer Smith Jr. is an American professor,consultant,and expert on defense policy. He was Assistant to the Secretary of Defense from June 1993 to March 1996,when the name of the position changed to Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear,Chemical &Biological Defense Programs,and remained in the position until January 1998.
Elizabeth Cameron is an American national security expert specializing in biosecurity,biodefense,and bioterrorism. She serves as Senior Director for Global Health Security and Biodefense on the White House National Security Council staff.
Frank A. Rose is an American foreign policy advisor who currently serves as the Principal Deputy Administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration at the Department of Energy. Previously he served as the Assistant Secretary of State for Verification,Compliance,and Implementation from December 16,2014 to January 20,2017. Since 2018,Rose has been the co-director of the Center for Security,Strategy,and Technology in the Foreign Policy program at the Brookings Institution.
Deborah G. Rosenblum is an American nuclear expert and former career civil servant. She currently serves as the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear,Chemical &Biological Defense Programs in the Biden administration.
Biological Threat Reduction (BTR) is an arm of the Nunn–Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction program,an initiative housed within the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA). The Soviet Union developed "the world's largest biological weapons program,employing an estimated 60,000 people at more than 50 sites," In the wake of the deconstruction of the USSR after 1991,these people needed to be retrained and the facilities needed to be decommissioned. Prior to the Obama administration,the program addressed key aspects of the US effort to prevent the proliferation of biological weapons from the ex-Soviet nations,because "Many activities have facilitated professional ties among important specialists... and have enhanced the containment of biological materials,technologies,equipment,and expertise that,if misused,could result in serious biological threats."
