NAS ANNUAL FUND
INTERNATIONAL SECURITY AND ARMS CONTROL

With policymakers embarking on an uncertain course for nuclear arms reductions and cooperative security relations in China, Russia, and South Asia, non-governmental channels of communication and independent analysis become particularly important.

It was for those purposes that the Academies created the Committee on International Security and Arms Control (CISAC) in 1980: to bring scientific talent to bear on international security issues through in-depth policy studies and recommendations, and through bilateral dialogues with influential scientists and policy analysts. The goal of both the studies and dialogues is development of new, cooperative approaches to address current and emerging security challenges.

Thus, for twenty years, CISAC has maintained a dialogue with counterparts in the Soviet Union/Russia that has advanced ideas to reduce the risks posed by nuclear and biological weapons. In the late 1980s, the Committee extended that model to China, and, in May 1999, began a promising new dialogue in India. Private channels between scientists have kept communication open when more formal relations between nations were blocked. Over the years, many ideas developed in CISAC-sponsored dialogues and policy studies have been incorporated into national policies and international agreements.

More information on CISAC’s activities is available at www.nationalacademies.org/cisac. Use your browser's Back button to return to this page.

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