ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Some 250 internationally known experts representing the United Nations, NATO, and more than 40 countries will gather here April 16-18 to discuss how to deal with the spread of chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons and the technologies required to monitor and control them.
The focus of the Ninth Annual International Arms Control Conference is “Entering the New Millennium: Dilemmas in Arms Control.” The conference will feature keynote addresses by international luminaries in arms control. Panels of distinguished government officials and foreign affairs experts from around the world will explore the following topics:
- Formalizing Restraint: The Case of South Asia
- Beyond START II
- Regimes Under Assault: The Chemical and Biological Weapons Conventions
- Non-Proliferation Treaty Review – 2000
- Arms Control and Leadership – Entering the New Millennium
The conference is hosted by the Cooperative Monitoring Center (CMC) at Sandia National Laboratories, a Department of Energy multiprogram science and engineering laboratory based in Albuquerque. The CMC assists political and technical experts from around the world in evaluating and acquiring technology that can help ease tensions among combatants in regional conflicts and keep weapons and weapons materials secure. Technological approaches include satellite monitoring systems, unattended ground sensors, and on-site inspection support systems. (The CMC’s Web site is at http://www.cmc.sandia.gov.)
The three-day conference begins with a Friday evening (April 16) reception address by Ambassador Richard Butler, Executive Chairman of the United Nations Special Commission on Iraq. In this closed session, he will discuss the special problems associated with keeping in check Iraqi programs to develop nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons and the technologies needed to deliver them.
The Saturday morning opening session features addresses by Dr. Jay Davis, Director of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency. Davis recently joined Ukrainian officials in witnessing the destruction of the last of Ukraine’s SS-19 intercontinental ballistic missiles, which were among Soviet Union weapons aimed at the United States during the Cold War era.
Saturday’s keynote luncheon speaker is The Honorable John Holum, Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs.
A complete listing of the topics, chairs, and speakers for the five panel discussions is available; contact John German at jdgerma@sandia.gov or 505-844-5199.
As in past years, reporters are asked not to quote panel speakers directly during the plenary sessions, to allow for a free exchange of ideas. Please ask speakers later for interviews and attribution.
“This conference brings together key leaders and policymakers in the arms control community to discuss issues that will be of concern to nations around the world into the coming century,” says conference chair Dr. James Brown of the CMC. “Previous conferences have allowed for a creative exchange of ideas and have resulted in valuable relationships among some of the world’s top arms control experts.”
Conference participants represent government, private industry, the armed forces, and academia.
This is the Ninth Annual International Arms Control Conference.