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NATO Science Committee goes to Russia

The NATO-Russia Council (NRC) Science Committee met in St. Petersburg, in the Russian Federation, on 13-14 June 2005. On 13 June, the NRC Science Committee visited the Khlopin Radium Institute, and received briefings and demonstrations of Explosives Detection Technology. In its 14 June session, the NRC Science Committee took stock of the co-operative activities in the framework of the Security through Science (STS) programme.

The NRC Science Committee was welcomed by Ambassador Alexander Alexeev of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and by the representative of the Russian Federation, Prof Dmitry V. Livanov. Following the opening remarks, the NATO Public Diplomacy Staff provided an overview of the activities carried out in other NRC bodies and presented the work of the NRC Committee on the Challenges of Modern Society (NRC-CCMS). As the NRC Science Committee and the NRC-CCMS deal with closely related and complementary areas, it was agreed to maintain close relations between them.

Representatives reviewed the activities of the NRC Science Committee Action Plan for 2005-2006 on the following security-related priority areas: Explosives Detection; Psychological and Sociological Consequences of Terrorism; Forecast and Prevention of Catastrophes; Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) Protection; Cybersecurity; and Transport Security. A total of 23 bottom-up activities have been included in the work programme thus far in 2005, primarily in the area of Forecast & Prevention (14 activities) and CBRN Protection (8 activities). The Committee also reviewed the results of the Expert Meetings, which were held in Moscow in April 2005, involving experts from NATO countries and from Russia. These meetings resulted in 7 proposed workshop topics in CBRN protection and CyberSecurity. These proposed activities will be submitted to the Advisory Panels for review and recommendation. The Committee agreed to continue the Expert Meeting process, which is particularly important for developing workshop applications. It was also agreed that all top-down activities would be approved by the NRC Science Committee under the silence procedure.

In addition, Dr Igor Kirillov of the Russian Federation presented the results of a project on ‘Hazard and Risk Analysis for Aircraft Collision with High-Rise Buildings’ (conducted jointly by Russia and the Netherlands). The possibility to hold a workshop to define further co-operation in this field within the NRC Science Committee Action Plan was discussed.

The NRC Science Committee also noted that Russian experts had been appointed (one each) to the four Advisory Panels of the STS programme.

Following the NRC Science Committee meeting, the members of the Science Committee held discussions on issues regarding the STS programme. Issues debated included: the planning for the first ‘Security Science Forum’; the results of the Spring 2005 Advisory Panel meetings; the status of current top-down activities (such as the Virtual Silk Highway and workshops in co-operation with the NATO Conference of National Armaments Directors, CNAD); and the links between the STS programme and other NATO and non-NATO bodies. A report presented by the Science Committee/CCMS Joint Working Group on the future organisation of the two committees was also discussed.

More detailed information on the St. Petersburg meetings will be available in the September edition of the newsletter ‘Science, Society, Security’ at www.nato.int/science/publication/newsletter/newsletter.htm

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