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In Containing Russia's Nuclear Firebirds , Glenn E. Schweitzer explores the life and legacy of the International Science and Technology Center in Moscow. He makes the case that the center's unique programs can serve as models for promoting responsible science in many countries of the world. Never before have scientists encountered technology with the potential for such huge impacts on the global community, both positive and negative. For nearly two decades following the Soviet Union's breakup into independent states, the ISTC has provided opportunities for underemployed Russian weapon scientists to redirect their talents toward civilian research. The center has championed the role of science in determining the future of civilization and has influenced nonproliferation policies of Russia and other states in the region. Most important, the center has demonstrated that modest investments can encourage scientists of many backgrounds to shun greed and violence and to take leading roles in steering the planet toward prosperity and peace. Schweitzer contends that the United States and other western and Asian countries failed to recognize the importance, over time, of modifying their donor-recipient approach to dealing with Russia. In April 2010 the Russian government announced that it would withdraw from the ISTC agreement. After expenditures exceeding one billion dollars, the ISTC's Moscow Science Center will soon close its doors, leaving a legacy that has benefited Russian society as well as partners from thirty-eight countries. Schweitzer argues that a broader and more sustained movement is now needed to help prevent irresponsible behavior by dissatisfied or misguided scientists and their patrons.

"During the first decade of the 21st century, the National Academies, working with a number of partner organizations in Iran, carried out a program of U.S.-Iran engagement in science, engineering, and health (herein referred to as science engagement). This book reviews important aspects of the science engagement program, including: (a) objectives of the program, (b) opportunities and constraints in developing the program, and (c) scientific and political impacts of the activities. Suggestions for future activities that draw on the conclusions and recommendations that have emerged from workshops and other types of interactions are set forth. Of course, the political turmoil within Iran and uncertainties as to the direction of U.S.-Iran government-to-government relations will undoubtedly complicate initiation and implementation of new science engagement activities in the near term. At the same time, many American and Iranian participants and important government officials in the United States and Iran have believed that science engagement can contribute to the evolution of an improved political environment for development of less adversarial relations between the two governments."--Publisher's description

As the Soviet Union was collapsing in late 1991, reports began to reach the West about agents "shopping" for weapons systems - and weapons scientists - in the beleaguered Soviet military-industrial complex. In response, the United States, the European Community, and Japan, in cooperation with the Russian government, created a program to reemploy Soviet scientific personnel in civilian projects dealing with the legacy of the Soviet system - a polluted environment, unsafe nuclear power facilities, and economic underdevelopment. In this fascinating first-person account, the American environmental scientist who led the effort to establish the International Science and Technology Center in Moscow tells the diplomatic, scientific, and human story behind a remarkable post-Cold War conversion initiative

Intro -- Preface -- Contents -- Summaries -- 1 U.S.-Russian Working Group on Bioterrorism -- 2 U.S.-Russian Working Group on Transportation System Vulnerabilities -- 3 U.S.-Russian Working Group on Energy System Vulnerabilities -- Selected Papers -- 4 Tendencies in Global Terrorism -- 5 Use of Predictive Modeling Packages for Effective Emergency Management -- 6 Organizational Measures and Decision Support Systems for Preventing and Responding to Terrorist Acts at Potentially Hazardous Facilities, on Transportation Systems, and in Locations Where Large Numbers of People Congregate -- 7 Characteristics of Technological Terrorism Scenarios and Impact Factors -- 8 Activities of the Russian Federal Medical-Biological Agency Related to Radiation, Chemical, and Biological Security -- 9 Disease Surveillance and International Biosecurity -- 10 Emerging Viral Infections in the Asian Part of Russia -- 11 A Note on the Interfacial Vulnerabilities of Transportation Systems -- 12 Transportation Planning for Evacuations -- 13 International and National Priorities in Combating Terrorism in the Transportation Sector -- 14 Managing the Radius of Risk -- 15 The Problem of Oil and Natural Gas Pipeline Security -- 16 U.S.-Russian Collaboration in Combating Radiological Terrorism -- 17 IAEA Activities in Preventing Radiological and Nuclear Terrorism -- 18 Electromagnetic Terrorism: Threat to the Security of the State Infrastructure -- 19 The Phenomenon of Suicide Bombings in Israel: Lessons Learned -- 20 Raman Spectroscopic Detection of Chemical, Biological, and Explosive Agents -- 21 The U.S. Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate -- Appendix A: Agenda -- Appendix B: Recent Russian and International Publications of Interest -- Appendix C: Russia's Counterterrorism Strategy.