Australian customs service officers, wearing anti-chemical suit, get ready for an inspection drill as part of the Pacific Shield 07 exercises at Yokohama port, southwest of Tokyo, Oct. 15, 2007.
AP Photo

"A Tighter Net: Strengthening the Proliferation Security Initiative"

Policy Brief, The Lowy Institute for International Policy

August 2009

Author: Emma Belcher, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program/Project on Managing the Atom, 2007–2010

Belfer Center Programs or Projects: International Security; Managing the Atom; Science, Technology, and Public Policy

SUMMARY

In a new Lowy Institute Policy Brief, entitled 'A Tighter Net: Strengthening the Proliferation Security Initiative', non-proliferation scholar Emma Belcher urges practical steps for WMD non-proliferation at sea.

Australia and other countries should redouble their efforts to fix serious gaps in an international arrangement to stop maritime shipments of materials destined for weapons of mass destruction programs, according to the Brief. It argues that heightened concerns over North Korea provide an opportunity to bolster the Proliferation Security Initiative, a 95-country arrangement to promote interception of transfers of cargoes related to weapons of mass destruction.

Download "A Tighter Net: Strengthening the Proliferation Security Initiative" here> 

The Sydney Morning Herald featured this research in "Regional Role in Nuclear Traffic" on August 6, 2009.

For more information about this publication please contact the ISP Program Coordinator at 617-496-1981.

Full text of this publication is available at:
http://lowyinstitute.cachefly.net/files/pubfiles/Belcher%2C_A_tighter_net.pdf

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