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The primary objective of the International Science and Technology Center (ISTC) is to give weapons scientists and engineers, particularly those in the NIS who possess knowledge and skills related to weapons of mass destruction or missile delivery systems, opportunities to redirect their talents to civilian activities. The center was developed to counter the threat of "brain drain" from the former Soviet Union (FSU) to countries wishing to acquire nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons. This threat of "brain drain" is a real one, as many former Soviet weapons specialists have been unemployed since the breakup of the Soviet Union. The origins of the center can be traced to two individuals. In late 1991, German Foreign Minister Hans Dietrich Genscher and U.S. Secretary of State James Baker were formulating the idea of establishing an international fund to help employ former Soviet weapons scientists. In February 1992, U.S. President George Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin discussed the proposal. Within a few weeks, a formal proposal for the establishment of the ISTC was issued, and Japan and the European Union also agreed to join.[2] Under the terms of an agreement signed 27 November 1992, the ISTC's principal activity is "to develop, approve, finance, and monitor science and technology projects for peaceful purposes, which are to be carried out primarily at institutions and facilities located in the Russian Federation..." A headquarters for the ISTC was established in Moscow in a renovated wing of the All-Russian Research Institute for Pulse Technology and it began operations on 3 March 1994.[1,2] The initial ISTC partner countries were the United States (which contributed $25 million), the European Union (which contributed 20 million ECU), Japan (which contributed $17 million), and the Russian Federation (which contributed the headquarters facility).[1] The US State Department represents the United States in the ISTC and is currently responsible for the US portion of ISTC funding. Since 1994, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Georgia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and South Korea have joined the Center.[6] Other countries such as Switzerland have also participated.[5] The ISTC is made up of four operating bodies: a Governing Board, a Coordination Committee, a Scientific Advisory Committee, and an administrative Secretariat. The Governing Board makes all of the major decisions for the ISTC, including approving new members, approving budgets, choosing which proposals to fund, and developing policies for the Center. Membership of the governing board includes representatives from each of the four initial ISTC partners and rotating representation from one of the other Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries. The Coordination Committee meets prior to meetings of the Governing Board to discuss issues and details of projects that will be decided upon by the Governing Board. The Scientific Advisory Committee determines the feasibility of proposals received by the Center and provides scientific expertise to the Governing Board. The Secretariat consists of seventy to eighty scientific, administrative, and financial personnel that executes the Board's decisions and manages the daily operations of the Center. This group aids applicants in writing and submitting their proposals to the center and then monitors the progress of funded projects.[4] ISTC project funding seeks to provide former weapons' specialists with competitive salaries so that they will work on civilian projects rather than weapons-related ones. According to an analysis by the Center's first executive director, Glenn Schweitzer, there were 60,000 scientists, engineers, and technicians who worked in the Minatom weapons complex at the breakup of the former Soviet Union and about 25,000 of them represented a real proliferation risk. The ISTC has focused its attention on this group and has initiated a policy of offering ISTC workers a salary three times higher than the official pay for government scientists.[2] Nonetheless, a 1995 US General Accounting Office report determined that Center-supported scientists could still be working on weapons-related projects; some could be spending as little as 10% of their time working on ISTC projects. Center officials dispute that assertion, saying that scientists may still keep up ties to their old institutes and laboratories to retain important social benefits, but it is doubtful that most scientists have renewed their work on weapons-related programs.[3] The ISTC solicits a variety of project proposals from former Soviet weapons scientists, engineers, and technicians. ISTC grants are awarded on a competitive basis. Projects are proposed in areas such as: biotechnology and life sciences; chemistry; the environment; fission reactors; fusion; information and communications; instrumentation; manufacturing technology; materials; non-nuclear energy; geology; physics; and space, aircraft, and surface transportation.[5] From 1994 through April 2002, ISTC programs have funded 1,600 projects valued at $420 million and provided grant payments to over 30,000 individuals.[7] For more information about projects funded by the ISTC, please refer to the ISTC home page. The ISTC currently operates branch offices in Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. Similar to the Moscow-based ISTC, the Science and Technology Center of Ukraine (STCU) in Kiev opened in 1994. The STCU is a separate entity from the ISTC. Click here to go to the ISTC home page. For a full account of the beginnings of the ISTC,
please refer to the book Moscow DMZ by Glenn Schweitzer, published
by M. E. Sharpe in 1996.
Comments or questions? Contact Elena Sokova at MIIS
CNS: Elena.Sokova@miis.edu
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Foreign Assistance
