Some 180 internationally known experts representing the United Nations, NATO, and about 40 countries will gather in Albuquerque April 3-5 to discuss the spread of chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons and the technologies required to monitor them.

The focus of the Eighth Annual International Arms Control Conference is “New Horizons and New Strategies in Arms Control.” The conference will feature keynote addresses by international luminaries in arms control. Panels made up of distinguished government officials and foreign affairs experts from around the world will explore:

• emerging approaches in arms control and nonproliferation policy
• the future of nuclear weapons
• achieving multilateral arms control
• domestic and international terrorism
• ensuring and enforcing compliance with international arms control agreements

The conference is hosted by Sandia’s Cooperative Monitoring Center (CMC). The CMC assists political and technical experts from around the world in evaluating and acquiring technology that can help ease tensions among combatants in regional conflicts and keep weapons and weapons materials secure. Technological approaches include satellite monitoring, unattended ground sensors, and on-site inspection systems.

The three-day conference begins with a Friday evening (April 3) reception address by John Holum, Director of the US Arms Control and Disarmament Agency. Holum will discuss the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

The Saturday-morning opening session features addresses by Labs President Paul Robinson; Brig. Gen. John Reppert, Director of the US On-Site Inspection Agency; Ambassador Vigleik Eide, Norway’s Ambassador to Syria; and Ambassador Rolf Ekeus, Sweden’s Ambassador to the United States.

Eide will discuss implementation of Title 4 of the Dayton Accord, which called for the mass destruction of conventional weapons among the parties in Bosnia and Herzegovina as part of that conflict’s peace process. Ekeus, who headed the United Nations’ effort to inspect suspected Iraqi weapons sites from 1991 to 1997, will discuss Saddam Hussein and the challenge of implementing international arms control policies in the Middle East.

Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, will also speak.

“This conference brings together key leaders and policymakers in the arms control community to discuss issues that will be of concern to nations around the world into the coming century,” says conference chair James Brown (5335). “Previous conferences have succeeded in creating valuable relationships, both formal and informal, among some of the world’s top arms control experts.”

James is founder of this series of arms control conferences and is the retired founding director of the John G. Tower Center for Political Studies at Southern Methodist University, where he was a professor of political studies and a research fellow in American statesmanship and diplomacy. He came to Sandia in November 1996.

All sessions are being held at the Sheraton Uptown Hotel, 2600 Louisiana Blvd. NE. Formal conference proceedings begin with dinner Friday evening at the hotel.

Sandians interested in attending all or part of the conference should call Martha Lucero (12670) at 284-5047 for registration information.