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thomas graham unending crisisIn Unending Crisis, BSG Chairman Thomas Graham Jr. examines the second Bush administration's misguided management of foreign policy, the legacy of which has been seven major - and almost irresolvable - national security crises involving North Korea, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, the Arab-Israeli conflict in Palestine, and nuclear proliferation. Unending Crisis considers these issues individually and together, emphasizing their interrelationship and delineating the role that the neoconservative agenda played in redefining the way America is perceived in the world today.

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The Senate ratification of the new START arms reduction treaty with Russia is a major step towards strengthening national and global security, according to the Bipartisan Security Group. In an era marked by increasing polarization, BSG welcomes the overwhelming support for START from both parties.

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  Goodby
BSG Member James Goodby
   

The United States Nuclear Posture Review: Analysis and Opportunities for Progress

In early April, the Obama administration released the Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), a document that will inform and guide US nuclear weapons policy for the next 5-10 years.  On May 11th, BSG hosted a symposium at the UN to offer insights and analysis of the document to the international delegations participating in the Review Conference.  GSI President Jonathan Granoff chaired the discussion.  He was joined by BSG expert Ambassador Jim Goodby and Dr. Ivan Olerich of the Federation of American Scientists. 

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US-Russia finalize START negotiations

On Russia Today, BSG Director and Chairman Ambassador Robert Grey Jr and Ambassador Thomas Graham Jr discuss the new START agreement and its effect on global non-proliferation efforts.

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Congressional Testimony on Biological Threats: Diplomacy and International Programs

 
   

On March 18, BSG member Barry Kellman testified to the House Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade, discussing the legal barriers that currently prevent the United States and the international community from working together to prepare for and prevent the use of biological weapons.

» Read the testimony (check against delivery)

» Watch the webcast
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photo courtesy of EWI
 

EastWest Institute Events on CTBT

BSG leaders have been featured speakers at several EastWest Institute events in New York focusing on the Comprehensive Test-Ban Treaty.

On January 6, BSG Chairman Tom Graham spoke at a policy roundtable, Prioritizing the Disarmament Agenda, and on Friday, February 5, Director Bob Grey spoke on the politics of US ratification of the CTBT.

» Read the EWI report on Prioritizing the Disarmament Agenda

» Read a summary report of the February 5 event, by Federation of American Scientists' Alicia Godsberg

» Read the EWI CTBT report, "New Technology, New Prospects?"

» Read Ambassador Grey's remarks on domestic challenges hampering CTBT ratification, presented to the MPI Consultation, "Fulfilling the NPT."

 
 
BSG Chairman
Thomas Graham

Congressional Testimony on US-Russian Negotiations

On June 24, BSG Chairman Hon. Thomas Graham Jr. testified at the United States Congressional hearing The July Summit and Beyond: Prospects for U.S.-Russia Nuclear Arms Reductions, which was convened by the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. Also testifying at the hearing was The Hon. William J. Perry, and Keith B. Payne, Ph.D. The Hon. Howard L. Berman chaired.

» Read the full transcript of Ambassador Graham’s testimony, ‘Arms Control, Nuclear Nonproliferation, Russia and the United States – The Start Process’.
» Watch the webcast of the hearing

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What's Next for India's Nuclear Trade Future: Press Briefing on Key Issues before the IAEA, NSG and US Congress

 
Ambassador Robert Grey, Jr., Director of the Bipartisan Security Group
 

Fresh off the heels of a vote of confidence from parliament, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has renewed a push for nuclear cooperation between the US and India. Late this week, the International Atomic Energy Agency's Board of Governors will meet to consider an unprecedented safeguards agreement for India. Soon thereafter, the 45 member states of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) will consider an India-specific exemption to allow civil nuclear trade for the first time in 30 years. The NSG has restricted trade with India and other states that have not signed the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. Before the end of the year, the US Congress may consider a bilateral nuclear cooperation agreement between the US and India. As these events unfold, a number of experts are raising alarms about the implications of this agreement on global stability.

» Read the transcript of the press briefing
» Download the press release
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BSG Briefing on Capitol Hill

 
BSG Member Barry Kellman
 

On November 15, the Bipartisan Security Group (BSG) hosted a briefing on Capitol Hill entitled “International Policies to Reduce Biothreats.”  Former Chief US Weapons Inspector in Iraq David Kay moderated a panel comprised of BSG expert Dr. Barry Kellman and Partnership for Global Security Executive Director Dr. Kenneth Luongo, as they discussed various policies, challenges and recommendations for strengthening the prohibition regime on biological weapons. 

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BSG at the Reach to Space conference, George Washington University

 
Ambassador Robert Grey, Jr. argues for a legal regime in space, on a panel with Michael Cook of Hughes Network Systems and Steven Apfel of Boeing
 

BSG Director Robert Grey, Jr., and Program Associate Kevin Davis participated in the Reach to Space conference at George Washington University, November 12-13, 2007.

Ambassador Grey presented on the need for a legal regime in outer space on the panel entitled, "Space Commercialization in the Decade Ahead—Economic Risk or Opportunity?"

» Click here for Ambassador Grey's speech
» Click here for more information about the conference

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BSG/GSI Events in Washington

 
   

On May 3 and 4, 2007, a delegation comprised of Ambassador Thomas Graham, Jr., Chairman of the Bipartisan Security Group, Jonathan Granoff, President of the Global Security Institute, and Dr. Hans Blix, Chairman of the Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission, advocated timely policies on international security in the US Congress and to the International Law Section of the American Bar Association.


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» Click here for a photo gallery
» Click here for a PDF version of the report

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Testimony Before the US Congress

On September 26, 2006, BSG Chairman Ambassador Thomas Graham and GSI President Jonathan Granoff testified at a Congressional Hearing on Weapons of Mass Destruction: Current Nuclear Proliferation Challenges, which was convened by the US House of Representatives Government Reform Committee, Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats and International Relations.

Congresstestimony Dr. Hans Blix, Henry Sokolski, Dr. Frank von Hippel, and representatives of the Administration, also testified.


»
Official Testimony Part I
(Includes statements by House Rep. Shays and Waxman, & Dr. Blix)

»
Official Testimony Part II
(Includes statements by US Dep. Asst. Secretary of State Andrew Semmel, US Dep. Asst. Secretary of Defense Jack David, & Amb. Graham)

» Official Testimony Part III

(Includes statements by Jonathan Granoff, Baker Spring, & Henry Sokolski)


»
Summary Report
» Testimony by Dr. Blix
» Testimony by Amb. Graham
» Testimony by Mr. Granoff

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BSG and Stimson Center Convene Expert Panel on Space Weaponization

Mr. Krepon, Amb. Graham, Amb. Grey, Ms. Spaulding, Mr. Granoff, &
Hon. Ed Markey

Washington, DC - On December 13, 2005, the Bipartisan Security Group and The Henry L. Stimson Center, in conjunction with the Bipartisan Task Force on Non-proliferation of the US House of Representatives, convened a panel discussion on Capitol Hill on the topic of The Security and Proliferation Implications of Space Weapons.

The keynote panelists included BSG Chairman Ambassador Thomas Graham and Michael Krepon, President emeritus of the Stimson Center.

The panel was co-chaired by BSG expert Suzanne Spaulding and GSI President Jonathan Granoff. Congressman Ed Markey and Christopher Shays, Co-Chairs of the Bipartisan Task Force, both participated in the event proceedings.

Amb. Graham's and Mr. Krepon's speeches were based upon their respective materials which are found below:

» Stimson Brief on Space Security or Space Weapons?
» Amb. Graham article on space in Arms Control Today
» Jonathan Granoff & Dr. Craig Eisendrath on Vision 2020
» View US Space Command's Vision for 2020
» Read article about event from Voice of America

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Capitol Hill: Experts Review President Bush's Non-Proliferation Policies

Hon. Ed Markey, Amb. Henrik Salander, Jonathan Granoff, Hon. Chris Shays

In response to the President's non-proliferation proposals announced in February, the House Bipartisan Task Force on Non-Proliferation, in cooperation with the Global Security Institute's Bipartisan Security Group, hosted a high-level panel discussion on Capitol Hill on April 27, 2004 on the theme: 'Seven Sound Strategies? The President's Non-Proliferation Proposals.'

Following the panel, discussions were held with Members of Congress.

Addressing the crowd of House staffers, panelists Ambassador Henrik Salander, Secretary General of the recently launched Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) Commission; Dr. Ivan Oelrich, a security analyst at the Federation of American Scientists; and Ambassador Jonathan Dean, an advisor on arms control and international security issues at the Union of Concerned Scientists, discussed the viability of the proposals in the context of the current state of the international non-proliferation regime. Ambassador Robert T. Grey, Jr., director of the Bipartisan Security Group, moderated the discussion.

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Law of the Sea opponents hurt US security
By Ambassador Thomas Graham, Jr. and Ben Friedman
International Herald Tribune
April 21, 2005

WASHINGTON In spite of the Bush administration's recent calls for quick passage, some conservatives are campaigning vigorously to block ratification of the Law of the Sea Convention, a treaty governing the use of the world's oceans, in the US Senate. That's worrisome because the convention, a treaty the United States has spent decades perfecting, is in America's, and the world's, interests and should be passed now.

» Click here

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"Legitimacy" in International Affairs: A Response to John Bolton
By Benjamin Friedman
Bipartisan Security Group
March 11, 2004

Last November, John Bolton, the Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, gave a speech entitled "'Legitimacy' In International Affairs: The American Perspective in Theory and Operation." The speech addresses the legitimacy of three aspects of US foreign policy - the authority for the war in Iraq, a new US-led nonproliferation effort called the Proliferation Security Initiative, and opposition to the International Criminal Court. Some points Bolton makes on these subjects are wrong, and this piece corrects those points. More fundamentally, however, Bolton's speech attacks the very idea of international norms. This paper is then also a brief defense of multilateralism.

» View PDF

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Bush Should've Taken His Father's Advice on War
By Robert T. Grey, Jr.
Chicago Sun Times
December 13, 2003

In his memoir, A World Transformed, former President George Bush in discussing the Gulf War made the following observation: ''Trying to eliminate Saddam would have incurred incalculable human and political costs. Apprehending him was probably impossible. We would have been forced to occupy Baghdad and, in effect, rule Iraq. There was no viable exit strategy we could see, violating another of our principles. Furthermore, we had been consciously trying to set a pattern for handling aggression in the post-Cold War world. Going in and occupying Iraq, thus unilaterally exceeding the United Nations mandate, would have destroyed the precedent of international response to aggression that one hoped to establish. Had we gone the invasion route, the United States could conceivably still be an occupying power in the bitterly hostile land.''

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What's New?

BSG member Ambassador James Goodby on President Reagan's disarmament vision and support for the CTBT in The Hill

Jonathan Granoff on Nuclear Posture Review/START for AP Television

BSG commentary in Global Times

Bioterror op/ed in The Hill

BSG Director meets with Japanese Foreign Minister Okada

Barry Kellman in Journal of Homeland Security

BSG Member Barry Kellman's Letter to the Editor in LA Times

BSG Director Robert Grey interview in Chugoku Shimbun

BSG Co-Sponsors Event at Senate Dirksen Building, December 16

Barry Kellman keynote presentation at the World Future Society's 2009 conference: "Disease as a Weapon"

Chairman Graham's LTE in the Wall Street Journal

Chairman Amb. Thomas Graham in Disarmament Diplomacy and as a Guest Blogger in the Washington Post

New video resources

BSG Member Nancy Gallagher co-authors new report on outer space security

BSG Letter to Rep. Berman on US-India deal

Op/ed by BSG Program Associate Kevin Davis

BSG Chairman heralds op/ed by Schultz, Perry, Kissinger and Nunn calling for nuclear weapons elimination

Letter to Congress opposing Reliable Replacement Warhead

BSG Commends the MPI Statement on the US/Iran Confrontation

New book from BSG Member Barry Kellman

The Bipartisan Taskforce on Non-proliferation Hosts BSG experts

BSG Chairman Thomas Graham's new book, Spy Satellites

BSG Director Robert Grey's speech on the Weaponization of Outer Space

BSG Chairman speech to the National Press Club March 28, 2007

BSG Director Robert Grey responds to Wall Street Journal editorial by Schultz, Perry, Kissinger and Nunn

Common Sense On Weapons of Mass Destruction by Amb. Thomas Graham Jr.

[text]

Amb. Graham is Chairman of the Bipartisan Security Group.

University of Washington Press, 2004.

House Resolution 373 on NPT and Nuclear Weapons, introduced by Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey

Senate Resolution 36 on NPT, introduced by Senator Dianne Feinstein

House Resolution 133 on NPT, introduced by Congressman John Spratt

Law of Sea Op/Ed by
Amb. Thomas Graham & Ben Friedman

Policy Brief:
Bio-Terrorism, by Barry Kellman


Policy Brief:
CTBT, by David Koplow


Policy Brief: Weaponization of Space, by Amb. Robert Grey, Jr.

"Legitimacy" in International Affairs: A Response to John Bolton

Proliferation Security Initiative: The Legal Challenge

Status of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treat: Interim Report

The Moscow Treaty: Room for Improvement