Nuclear Security Study Group

During the 2004 presidential contest, candidates George Bush and John Kerry agreed that the single gravest threat to our nation’s security was the prospect of nuclear weapons in the hands of terrorist groups. While much policy attention has been given to addressing the issue of terrorism in recent years, relatively little attention has been paid to addressing the risk posed by nuclear or radiological materials.

In the spring of 2005, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation awarded CNP a two year grant to launch the Nuclear Security Study Group (NSSG), a program specifically designed to help improve Congressional understanding and deliberation of nuclear security issues. The NSSG includes twenty-nine Representatives and eight Senators who are committed to building a bi-partisan consensus to place nuclear security at the top of America’s national security agenda.

Since its inception in 2005, the program has sought to directly engage members of both houses of Congress, as well as their senior and working-level staff. CNP specifically designed programs to suit each audience. Our Nuclear Security Study Group provides members of Congress with an intimate, non-confrontational, media-free setting to encourage a full and comprehensive discussion of the issues. We also host a Nuclear Security Speakers Series, which provides a regular opportunity for Congressional staff to engage a broader cross-section of the nuclear security community to explore the most pressing issues, with a special emphasis on helping to bridge the technical and political divides which so often hamper Congressional action on these issues.

These programs are an excellent way of bringing together the Congress and its staff with executive branch officials, as well as nuclear experts from across the academic, policy, and non-profit community. Since the series began, over 400 individual policy professionals have attended one or more of these events. During the 109th and 110th Congresses, speakers included such leaders in the field as former Secretary of Defense William Perry, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, and Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee Senator Sam Nunn, among others.

Over the past few years, the nuclear proliferation landscape has become increasingly more complex: North Korea is believed to have tested a plutonium-core nuclear warhead, Iran continues to enrich uranium, and India, locked in a strategic conflict with Pakistan and China, is expanding its nuclear program. If this trend continues, experts warn there will be up to 25 nuclear weapons states in coming decades, dramatically increasing the likelihood of an accidental or deliberate nuclear detonation.

In this challenging strategic environment, the United States has a unique role to play. Over the next two years, the Study Group and Speakers Series will pursue an active program to address such issues as strengthening nuclear decommissioning programs, port security, counter-terrorism, nuclear agreements with North Korea and India, as well as the options we have in addressing Iran's nuclear program.

In the context of such a threat, it is critical that Washington’s policy making community have the capacity to address such issues in a knowledgeable, thoughtful and strategic fashion. Providing our nation’s key decision makers with access to the experts and information is now more critical than ever, and we are pleased that the MacArthur Foundation has renewed our grant for an additional two years in 2007.