| |  The Science CentersWith the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, there was widespread concern among the governments of several nations about the fate of newly unemployed scientists and engineers who once had been engaged in Soviet programs to develop weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and their means of delivery and how these individuals might be persuaded under these new circumstances to share their knowledge and expertise with rogue nations. To address this problem, the Science Centers were established by international agreements beginning in 1992, as key elements of a nonproliferation effort providing peaceful research opportunities to weapons scientists and engineers of the former Soviet Union (FSU).
The International Science and Technology Center (ISTC; Moscow, Russia) and the Science and Technology Center in Ukraine (STCU; Kiev) are intergovernmental bodies with the following nations as contributing member states: the United States, Canada, Russia, Ukraine, Japan, the European Union, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Georgia, Uzbekistan, Armenia, the Kyrgyz Republic, Norway, Finland and the Republic of Korea. To date, total member state funding has exceeded $500 million for more than 2,000 projects involving over 50,000 scientists from the FSU.
The Department of State manages the role of the U.S. Government in Science Center operations.
| |
