An Assessment of the International Science and Technology Center Redirecting Expertise in Weapons of Mass Destruction in the Former Soviet Union (1996) / Chapter Skim
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The ISTC After Two Years
The ISTC After Two Years
Pages 10-18
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From page 10... ...
Government's response to this threat. A subcommittee staff report acknowledged the role economic hardship plays in creating an atmosphere ripe for nuclear diversion and found that the ISTC "has been critical in the effort to provide challenging civilian alternatives for ex-Soviet weapons scientists."2 Agreement establishing anInternational Science and Technology Center: Two Year Review, ISTC, Moscow, 29, 1996.
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From page 11... ...
As of March 1996, ISTC grants provided some amount of salary support to approximately 12,500 scientists and engineers in the FSU, the majority of whom possess skills related to weapons of mass destruction or missile delivery systems.6 The committee visited 13 institutes involved in ISTC activities and met about 100 skillful, energetic, and informed scientists who are now earning enough money to survive in their present establishments while working on nondefense related research and who, therefore, are less likely to emigrate (except, perhaps, to Europe or the United States)
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From page 12... ...
THE lSTC'S SECONDARY OBJECTIVES The founding parties of the ISTC recognized that supporting a weapons scientist or engineer for one or two years is not sufficient to induce a permanent career move or reorientation of an individual's and institute's research. But by concentrating on its primary objective, the ISTC has helped to create an environment that is more conducive to the larger R&D transition taking place in the FSU; the primary objective is supplemented by secondary objectives intended to support the broader R&D transition.
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From page 13... ...
Unfortunately, the typical weapons scientist in the FSU has no knowledge or experience in how market-driven organizations function or in how to select a potentially useful problem to solve and then transfer significant research results to commercial practice. Driven by economics, FSU institutes are spinning off small companies, while researchers within institutes are engaging in various forms of entrepreneurial activity in hopes of attracting foreign partners and foreign capital.
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From page 14... ...
FINDING: The ISTC is promoting integration of FSU scientists Into the international science community but should do more in this regard. The integration of FSU weapons scientists into the international science community is closely related to the primary goal of nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction and one of the most important goals of the ISTC.
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From page 15... ...
ARZAMAS-16 AND OTHER CLOSED CITIES In this section the committee provides its views on the special considerations of formerly closed cities such as Arzamas-16 and Chelyabinsk-70. A subcommittee visited Arzamas-16 in November 1995 to discuss the impact of ISTC grants.
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From page 16... ...
A subcommittee reviewed the available information on BW/CW research and visited the State Research Center for Applied Microbiology in Russia. Subcommittee members discussed the state of scientific research at the research center and the impact of ISTC grants with the center's director and numerous scientists.
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From page 17... ...
The Russian program includes scientists engaged in research on antiviral and antimicrobials, immunomodulators, and vaccines, as well as research on disease transmission, many aspects of which have potential utility for human and veterinary medicine. A report prepared for the ISTC in 1995 identified key BW technologies and capabilities that have the potential to be converted to civilian end uses.~3 A follow-up report provided illustrative information on dual-use biotechnologies and related technologies in Russia.~4 The committee notes an upcoming project, to be funded by the Department of Defense and carried out by the National Research Council, to design a comprehensive plan to engage former Soviet BW researchers in continuing collaborative research projects with the West.
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From page 18... ...
After two years, what more do we know about emigration and the threat of diffusion of weapons know-how? Chapter 2 gave an overview of the emigration by FSU scientists and engineers that has been occurring since the mid-1980s and noted the difficulties in assessing emigration as it relates to scientists and engineers involved in research on weapons of mass destruction.
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