Publishing Institution: James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies / Topic: Science and Technology

Author:: Robert Shaw
Publication Date:: 10-2017
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies
Abstract:: This report summarizes the analysis and findings of our research project entitled “Evaluating WMD Proliferation Risks at the Nexus of 3D Printing and Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Communities.” Conducted by a team with the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey’s (MIIS) James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS), this project builds upon emerging literature in the weapons of mass destruction (WMD) nonproliferation field highlighting additive manufacturing (AM) — which includes 3D printing — as a potential proliferation risk. This project analyzes a set of export-controlled items to understand the degree to which 3D printing might be used to produce — and thus represent a new pathway for proliferators to acquire — dual-use goods useful for the development of WMDs. Additionally the study considers the degree to which communities using and promoting 3D printing may impact the risk of WMD proliferation.
Topic:: Science and Technology, Weapons of Mass Destruction, Digitization, and Emerging Technology
Political Geography:: Global Focus

Author:: Raymond A. Zilinskas and Philippe Mauger
Publication Date:: 05-2015
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies
Abstract:: Current approaches to prevent the proliferation of biological weapons rely heavily on the operation of export controls for equipment used in the production or dissemination of biological agents. Concerned that the emergence and growth of biotechnology e-commerce has significantly disrupted the effectiveness of such export controls, the British Commonwealth and Foreign Office funded a study in June 2014 for the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS) titled “The Internet as a Source for Dual-Use Technologies of Biological Weapons Concern: Policy Implications and Governance Options,” to research the biological arms-control problems presented by biotechnology dual-use products and technologies sold via the Internet (e-commerce), and to determine how these problems could be addressed.
Topic:: Arms Control and Proliferation, Science and Technology, Biological Weapons, and Biotechnology
Political Geography:: Global Focus

Author:: Andrew Bieniawski, Miles A. Pomper, and Elena Sokova
Publication Date:: 06-2015
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies
Abstract:: Highly enriched uranium (HEU)—one of the key ingredients for nuclear weapons—is one of the most dangerous materials on the planet. Significant progress has been made over the past several years to eliminate all HEU from 26 countries and Taiwan. The creation of regional HEU-Free Zones would help cement a global norm against civilian HEU use in much the same way that Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zones have strengthened global non-proliferation and disarmament efforts. In many cases, only one or two countries in each proposed regional HEU-Free Zone have small amounts of remaining HEU, presenting an opportunity for countries to take action prior to the Nuclear Security Summit in 2016. This concept paper was developed by a working group on “The Elimination of Highly Enriched Uranium in Civilian Applications,” a project of the Fissile Materials Working Group, a coalition of eighty civil society organizations committed to improving fissile materials security. Initial work on the concept was also funded by the Nuclear Threat Initiative.
Topic:: Arms Control and Proliferation, Nuclear Weapons, Science and Technology, Nonproliferation, and Uranium
Political Geography:: Global Focus

Author:: Leonard Spector
Publication Date:: 11-2014
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies
Abstract:: A comprehensive Center for Nonproliferation Studies report calls on the United States and other concerned countries to adopt tighter controls to stem the flow of nuclear-related goods to Iran, North Korea, and other states of proliferation concern. Even modest improvements across the spectrum of today’s nuclear technology controls could greatly strengthen overall international efforts to constrain illicit nuclear procurement networks, the study found. The now available report, Countering Nuclear Commodity Smuggling: A System of Systems, was prepared by Leonard S. Spector and Egle Murauskaite. The study was supported by the US Department of Defense.
Topic:: Nuclear Weapons, Science and Technology, Nuclear Power, Nonproliferation, and Illegal Trade
Political Geography:: Iran, Middle East, Asia, and North Korea

Author:: Raymond A. Zilinskas, James W. Toppin, and Casey W. Mahoney
Publication Date:: 09-2013
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies
Abstract:: Throughout the 20th century, the USSR Ministry of Health’s 2nd Directorate headed an “anti-plague (AP) system” whose main objective was to protect the country from endemic and imported dread diseases such as plague, anthrax, and others. In addition, it had an important, two-phased role in the Soviet Union’s biological warfare (BW) program—to provide training to the BW program’s scientific workers on biosafety practices and to submit cultures of especially virulent pathogens to that program’s research and development institutions. Because the USSR considered information about endemic infectious disease, as well as BW-related activity, to be state secrets, hardly any outsiders knew about the AP system’s work and scientific accomplishments. To this day, the five Russian AP institutes remain closed to outsiders and are almost as secretive about their current activities as they were during the Soviet era.
Topic:: Health, Science and Technology, Public Health, Pandemic, and Medicine
Political Geography:: Europe and Soviet Union

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