Containing Russia's Nuclear Firebirds: Harmony and Change at the International Science and Technology Center

12. Replicating ISTC Experiences While Avoiding Pitfalls

CHAPTER TWELVE Replicating ISTC Experiences While Avoiding Pitfalls The Science and Technology Center in Ukraine has been a model of how nations work together for the common good. For 15 years, it has pursued peaceful science by researchers who had been responsible for weapons of mass destruction. —Former Chairman of the Science and Technology Center in Ukraine Governing Board, 2010 Lessons learned by the istc and the stcu could be adapted to shape appropriate new projects beyond the g8 countries that contribute to global nonproliferation efforts. —Working Group of the G8 Global Partnership, 2009 As the doors of the istc headquarters in Moscow slowly began to close in 2011, a handful of officials from member governments were searching for ways to preserve the center’s legacy. They correctly assumed that lessons learned from transforming a radically new idea about curtailing proliferation into a successful program over seventeen years, with most efforts carried out in Russia, should be of broad international interest in the years ahead. These officials had a large array of allies in this effort—namely, the tens of thousands of scientists who had positive memories of their participation in istc-supported programs. A prominent Russian scientist, who had been immersed in istc activities during the entire lifetime of the organization and who condemned the Russian decision to withdraw from the istc, persuasively highlighted important onthe -ground impacts of the center as follows: [220] chapter Twelve • During the difficult 1990s, the center’s financial support for economically struggling scientists with defense-oriented skills successfully limited brain drain to countries of proliferation concern. • The istc contributed significantly to the integration of Russian scientists into the international science community. • The center brought young leaders into the foreground. • The center began to transform results of research projects into useful outputs . • The istc strengthened academic links between scientists in Russia and scientists in adjacent states. His views resonated strongly with many scientific colleagues who were convinced that the legacy of the istc’s activities in Russia should remain on center stage as other countries developed and expanded nonproliferation programs. Now is the time to spread the experience from the center’s successes in Russia. We should not wait until the center has disappeared from the scene, they have argued. The tenth anniversary celebration of the istc in Moscow in 2004 was punctuated with many success stories, and the enthusiasm for the istc continued unabated until the fifteenth anniversary jubilee. Then the istc encountered turbulent waters in Russia. At the same time, the enthusiasm of the member states other than Russia where projects were sited reached a high pitch. Since the doors of the Moscow center will not close immediately, there is time for collective reflections on the experiences in Russia. Unfortunately, the parties to the istc Agreement may not spend much of their limited energy and funds on capturing what has been learned. They will be far more interested in moving in new directions elsewhere. But consideration of lessons learned at the Moscow science center deserves a place on international agendas in other areas of the world, as well as contributing to the development and implementation of future programs in Russia. THE FOCUS ON SCIENTISTS The concept of a small, special-purpose international organization was not new when the istc was born. Large international organizations, particularly the United Nations and its specialized agencies, have spawned a number of Replicating ISTC Experiences [221] such organizations over the past decades. But usually the newcomers have been closely linked to the parent organizations. For example, unesco created the successful International Oceanographic Commission (ioc), but unesco has held the ioc on a relatively short leash through the budget process and review procedures. Two independent organizations that were exceptions to such linked arrangements also emerged during the 1990s. The Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons stands alone, but it has only a few issues similar to the challenges faced by the istc. Second, the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor organization, which is devoted to research on fusion in the decades-long search for new energy sources, has been an interest of many Russian physicists who have been deeply involved in istc projects. However, the energy organization is still in its formative stage and is somewhat distant from most of the security concerns that have surrounded the istc. The istc has been unique in one significant respect. It provides financial support on a project-by-project basis for...