The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2007

channel their positions directly into diplomacy. A former U.S. diplomat tells the story of how representatives from several Non-Aligned Movement countries, during bilat- eral consultations with the U.S. prior to the 1990 NPT Review Conference, used almost identical briefing notes provided by Parliamentarians for Global Action. Despite such concerns, many multilateral conferences recognize the relevance of NGOs and accord them a speaking role, albeit usually limited to a half-day session. But even this limited role is viewed suspiciously in some quarters. “Who are these individuals, community spokes- persons and NGOs?” asked Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs Senior Fellow Gerald Steinberg in a critique last year. “Who chooses, funds and legitimates their claims to speak for others?” He noted that the NGO participants from Egypt, Palestine and North Africa at a conference of parties to the Ottawa Landmine Convention a few years ago all echoed a single position, parroting the views of their governments. Resistance to the role of NGOs becomes most intense when such organizations advocate policies that seem to support a national adversary — for example, when the Brussels-based International Crisis Group in early 2006 suggested that Iran be authorized to maintain small-scale enrichment facilities, despite the joint policy of Washington, London, Paris and Berlin opposing any ura- nium enrichment in Iran. Nonetheless, such policy advo- cacy is all part of the proper give-and-take of public debate in democratic societies. NGOs can also be differentiated between those that toil for profit and those who do not. Most organizations involved in the nonproliferation arena have nonprofit sta- tus. Laudable work is also performed, however, by con- sulting firms such as SAIC, where former Arms Control and Disarmament Agency official Lewis Dunn hangs his hat when he is not advising U.S. government agencies or sharing his wisdom on the academic and international con- ference circuits. Political risk consultancies such as the Eurasia Group also contribute thoughtful analysis to the public policy milieu on proliferation problem countries. To implement the many congressionally mandated programs aimed at securing “loose nukes” in the former Soviet Union, the executive branch relies heavily upon firms in the for-profit sector. Consulting organizations such as Booz Allen Hamilton provide much of the actual “boots on the ground” American oversight and advisory services to Russia and other governments involved in the multibillion-dollar effort. Think-Tanks and Blogs Think-tank NGOs play a key research and policy for- mulation role. Nonproliferation and arms control work by Alexei Arbatov at the Moscow Center of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace helped persuade the Russian government to put nuclear arms reduction issues back on its security policy agenda. CSIS and many other American think-tanks undertake unclassified research tasks in the field of nonproliferation for the CIA and other government agencies. Some nonprofit think-tanks, such as the Institute for Defense Analyses, only work for government contracts, operating some of the 36 “federal- ly funded research and development centers.” Several think-tanks have carved out a special niche in distilling and providing nonproliferation-related informa- tion to the public, breaking through intelligence classifi- cation constraints. Information that is screened by inde- pendent think-tanks is also more credible. The Institute for Science and International Security, headed by physi- cist David Albright, has nearly cornered the market in its analysis of satellite imagery of suspect nuclear sites and its almost instantaneous explanations of reports from the International Atomic Energy Agency. ISIS often disclos- es important but sensitive information that the U.N. nuclear watchdog is constrained from releasing except to member-states. Some NGOs perform a beneficial role by publicizing information papers for all delegates before and during multinational meetings. In reporting on U.N.-related arms control meetings, the London-based Acronym Institute serves as a repository of institutional memory. NGOs also host useful informal gatherings. Diplomats find value in “working the crowd” at retreats held in Annecy, France, like the ones co-sponsored by the Mon- terey Institute of International Studies’ Center for Non- proliferation Studies prior to annual NPT conferences. In the blog sphere, www.armscontrolwonk.com , run by Jeffrey Lewis of the New America Foundation, repre- sents one of the best sources of instant technical analysis and insights about proliferation-related events. Less F O C U S 44 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / J U LY- A U G U S T 2 0 0 7 Mark Fitzpatrick, a Foreign Service officer from 1979 to 2005, is now the senior fellow for nonproliferation at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.