NSOI is a U.S. government effort to enhance international partnerships to combat smuggling of nuclear and radioactive materials.
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U.S. and Finland Sign Anti-Nuclear Smuggling Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) – On October 30, 2009, in Helsinki, U.S. Ambassador Bruce J. Oreck and Finnish Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Pertti Torstila signed an MOU for cooperation on nonproliferation assistance. Through this MOU, Finland will contribute funding to an NSOI-developed project to provide radiation detection equipment to the Kyrgyz Republic to detect and deter nuclear smuggling across its borders. Click here for the official press release on the signing ceremony.
Joint NSOI-UNODC Legislative Drafting Workshops in the Kyrgyz Republic and Kazakhstan –NSOI worked with the U.S. Department of Justice, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and host government authorities to conduct workshops to review the Criminal Codes of the Kyrgyz Republic and Kazakhstan to ensure that these two Governments have sufficient authority to prosecute all types of cases of illicit trafficking in nuclear and radioactive materials, including scams and hoaxes. The workshops, which were held in Bishkek on September 23-24 and in Astana on September 29-October 1, produced specific recommendations to amend the Criminal Codes of both countries. The recommendations will be submitted to the appropriate national authorities in each country for final approval.
Successful Implementation Reviews in the Kyrgyz Republic and Kazakhstan – On June 8 in Bishkek, an NSOI delegation met with a broad-based Kyrgyz delegation to review progress in implementing the joint action plan to combat nuclear smuggling that the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic (GOKR) and the USG had completed in 2007. Participants in this review determined that the GOKR, through its own efforts, as well as through international assistance, has made significant progress in carrying out most of the steps specified in the joint action plan. They also agreed on several immediate actions to facilitate further progress. On June 10 in Astana, the NSOI delegation met with a broad-based Kazakhstani delegation to conduct a similar review of the joint action plan completed with the Government of Kazakhstan in 2006, with similar results.
U.S. and New Zealand Sign Anti-Nuclear Smuggling Arrangement – On April 7, 2009, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and New Zealand Foreign Ministry Murray McCully signed an arrangement for cooperation on nonproliferation assistance. Through this arrangement, New Zealand will contribute directly to a U.S. program to equip Kazakhstan’s borders with radiation monitors and provide related infrastructure and training. This is New Zealand’s second contribution to an NSOI project. In 2007, New Zealand contributed to a similar project to secure Ukraine’s border. Click here for the official press release on the signing ceremony.
Republic of Georgia Signs Addendum to Joint Action Plan – On February 27, 2009, the U.S. Ambassador to Georgia and the Deputy Ministers of the Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources, and the Ministry of Justice, signed the “Addendum to the Joint Document of U.S. and Georgian Delegations on Georgia’s Priority Needs to Improve Its Capabilities to Combat Nuclear Smuggling.” The Addendum addresses the degradation of
South Korean Contribution – On December 4, 2008, the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to provide funding through DOE to equip several border posts in Ukraine with radiation detection equipment. The equipment will be installed by DOE’s Second Line of Defense program. This contribution was secured through a joint effort by NSOI and DOE. Last year, South Korea helped to secure radioactive sources in Ukraine through a similar MOU.
Successful Forensics Workshop – NSOI analyst Jennifer Mastros attended the Nuclear Forensics and Law Enforcement Awareness Workshop in Karlsruhe, Germany on December 2-4. The primary purpose of the workshop, which was co-sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, the European Union’s Institute of Transuranium Elements, and the International Science and Technology Center, was to identify assistance projects to improve national responses to illicit uses of nuclear or radiological materials. More than 70 law enforcement and scientific experts from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkey, and the U.S. participated in the event.
Meeting in Georgia – The NSOI delegation returned to Tbilisi October 16, 2008, to review with the Georgian government the losses to Georgian anti-nuclear smuggling capabilities resulting from the events of August 2008 and to negotiate an addendum to Georgia’s joint action plan, as well as a revised list of priority assistance projects, aimed at restoring and further improving Georgia’s capabilities. The Georgian delegation also provided an extensive update on its progress in implementing the original joint action plan and the U.S. delegation described its progress in securing funding for NSOI-developed projects in Georgia. Once the Government of Georgia approves and signs the addendum, the NSOI team will seek funding for the new and expanded projects on the assistance list and will post updated fact sheets on this website. Proposed additional assistance focuses primarily on enhancing the capability of the Georgian Coast Guard to monitor the Black Sea and providing reliable, secure communications among the Georgian Border Police, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and first responders.
Global Initiative Legal and Regulatory Frameworks Conference – On September 4 and 5, the NSOI team participated in a conference in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, to foster discussion on the implementation of appropriate criminal and/or civil liability for terrorists and those that facilitate acts of nuclear terrorism. The NSOI team, the U.S. Department of Justice, and several NSOI partner countries made presentations on the importance of adequate legal authorities for prosecuting nuclear smuggling. The George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies and the U.S. Department of Defense organized this conference under the auspices of the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism.
U.S.-Ukraine Nonproliferation Working Group Meeting – At the semiannual meeting in
Republic of Armenia Signs Joint Action Plan – On July 14, 2008, the Republic of Armenia became the fifth country with which NSOI completed an action plan when Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian signed the “Joint Action Plan between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Republic of Armenia on Combating Smuggling of Nuclear and Radioactive Materials.” For the U.S. Department of State press release on this event, click here.
U.S.-EU Coordination Meeting – Representatives of the U.S. government and the European Union continued consultations in Brussels on June 24-26, 2008 on how EU assistance contributions from the Nuclear Stability Instrument could be coordinated with U.S. assistance efforts. NSOI Coordinator Michael Stafford proposed as candidates for this EU funding a set of assistance projects that have been developed in NSOI engagements.
Coordination Meeting on Radioactive Source Storage Facility in Ukraine – The Ukrainian Ministry of Emergency Situations hosted a meeting in Kiev on June 17, 2008 to coordinate among potential donors to a project to design, build, and fill a new, long-term storage facility in Ukraine for radioactive sources. The UK, the U.S., and Ukraine have already committed funding to this effort, and France, Germany, and the EU are also considering providing assistance. NSOI analyst Brent Eastman attended this session.
Fourth Meeting of the Global Initiative to Counter Nuclear Terrorism – The Global Initiative held its fourth plenary session in Madrid, Spain, on June 16-18, 2008. The session was attended by representatives of approximately 50 Global Initiative member nations. NSOI Coordinator Michael Stafford gave a presentation at this meeting updating the attendees on NSOI’s progress in engaging at-risk countries and securing funding for assistance projects in those countries. He thanked those Global Initiative members who have committed to NSOI-developed projects and encouraged others to do so.
Joint NSOI-UNODC Legislative Drafting Workshop in Ukraine – NSOI and UNODC's Terrorism Prevention Branch (TPB) held their first joint workshop on legislative drafting in Ukraine from March 11-13, 2008. This national workshop, entitled the Legislative Drafting Expert Workshop on the Criminal Law Aspects of the Universal Legal Framework Against Nuclear Terrorism, sought to strengthen Ukraine's national legislation and international legal cooperation against nuclear smuggling and terrorism. UNODC's legal experts, in cooperation with a representative from the U.S. Department of Justice's Counterterrorism Section, developed recommendations for necessary legislative reforms in partnership with a broad delegation of Ukrainian experts. The goal of these recommendations is to allow Ukrainian law to fully prosecute all cases of nuclear smuggling, including scams, and to identify the necessary steps to bring Ukraine's laws into compliance with the relevant international conventions on terrorism.
Kyrgyz Republic Signs Joint Action Plan –On September 30, 2007, the Kyrgyz Republic became the fourth country with which NSOI completed an action plan when Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Ednan Karabayev signed the “Program of Cooperation between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic on Combating the Smuggling of Nuclear and Radioactive Materials.” For the U.S. Department of State press release on this event, click here.
Global Initiative Technical Workshop on Anti-Nuclear Smuggling Assistance – Twenty countries and three international organizations were represented at this September 5-6, 2007, conference in London that was part of this year’s plan of work for the Global Initiative to Combat WMD Terrorism. The workshop focused particularly on NSOI-developed assistance projects in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Georgia, the Kyrgyz Republic, and Tajikistan. For details of the conference and its results, click here.
Georgia Signs Joint Action Plan – On February 2, 2007, Georgia became the third country with which NSOI completed an action plan when Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili and U.S. Ambassador John Tefft signed the “Joint Document of U.S. and Georgian Delegations on Georgia’s Priority Needs to Improve its Capabilities to Combat Nuclear Smuggling.” For the Georgian MFA’s press release on this event, click here.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Fissile material -- highly-enriched uranium (HEU) or weapon-grade plutonium -- is the critical ingredient in building a nuclear weapon. Most experts agree that terrorists are not able to produce fissile material, but a reasonably sophisticated terrorist organization could make a crude nuclear weapon, or improvised nuclear device (IND), if it stole or acquired a sufficient quantity and quality of such material. Therefore, combating smuggling of weapons-usable nuclear materials is vital to preventing terrorists from acquiring nuclear weapons.