Finding the means to reduce the threat represented by weapons of mass destruction was the original organizing principle of CISAC, and it remains a primary objective of our research and track-two efforts. Its urgency has, unfortunately, been highlighted recently by the increased and on-going threat of nuclear proliferation by North Korea and Iran. There remains as well the very disturbing prospect of nuclear or biological weapons in the hands of terrorists.

These threats underscore the importance of informed evaluations and recommendations regarding the future of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and its related regime of international controls on nuclear weapons; scholarship and policy work on intelligence failures and successes; and innovative ideas for international cooperation to prevent nuclear proliferation.