The Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control is a private non-profit, non-partisan organization, which, according to its website, "carries out research and public education designed to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, chemical/biological weapons and long-range missiles. It is a private, non-profit, non-partisan foundation that operates in Washington, D.C. under the auspices of the University of Wisconsin."
About Us
" Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control. 1 October 2008.
The organization was founded by Emeritus Professor
Gary Milhollin, who led the Wisconsin Project for twenty-five years. Valerie Lincy now serves as executive director.
The Wisconsin Project receives financing through grants from the U.S. government and from several private foundations, the identities of which are undisclosed.
Products
In 1995, the Wisconsin Project began publication of The Risk Report, which is now a subscription database used by governments and private companies to screen business transactions and verify the legitimacy of foreign buyers.
Drawing from unclassified sources, The Risk Report contains up-to-date information on sensitive products and technologies, export regulations, and organizations and individuals linked to WMD proliferation. Matthew Godsey is editor of the Risk Report.
The Wisconsin Project also tracks WMD proliferation through its two watchdog web sites, Iraq Watch and Iran Watch. Created in 2002, Iraq Watch detailed key
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
i entities involved in weapons proliferation, listed their foreign suppliers, and provided access to documents describing
Iraq's past WMD-related activities.
[Iraq Watch](_blank)
1 October 2008. The site was last updated in August 2006.
Iran Watch, launched in September 2004, follows the format of its successful predecessor, listing suspect
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
ian organizations and sites and their foreign suppliers.
[Doughty, Megan. ]
Keep Watch on Iran Nukes
” The Capital Times 9 August 2005: 3A. 1 October 2008. The site also provides original analyses and external resources relating to
Iran's WMD capabilities. Valerie Lincy is the editor and principal investigator for Iran Watch.
History
In 1986, the Wisconsin Project revealed that
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
, because of a secret export of
heavy water to
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
, had the right to inspect
Israel's nuclear program.
Israel’s A-Bombs and Norway’s Heavy Water: The Steps to Revelation
" Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control. April 1990. The revelation forced Israel to return half of the nuclear material to Norway and forced Norway to abandon its dangerous nuclear export business.
The Project's activism in the early 1990s drew attention to the proliferation threat posed by Iraq. In a series of publications, the Project argued that
nuclear inspections in Iraq would fail unless they became more aggressive.
The Project also argued for better export controls by exposing past sales of sensitive equipment by western firms to Iraqi builders of nuclear weapons,
chemical weapon
A chemical weapon (CW) is a specialized munition that uses chemicals formulated to inflict death or harm on humans. According to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), this can be any chemical compound intended as a ...
s, and long-range
missile
In military terminology, a missile is a guided airborne ranged weapon capable of self-propelled flight usually by a jet engine or rocket motor. Missiles are thus also called guided missiles or guided rockets (when a previously unguided rocket i ...
s.
In 1998, the U.S. government used data from the Wisconsin Project to restrict U.S. trade with 63 organizations involved in the nuclear and missile programs of
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
and
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
, following those countries’ nuclear tests.
Achievements
” Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control. 1 October 2008.
In 2000, the Wisconsin Project launched a public-private initiative to improve export controls in the
former Soviet Union
The post-Soviet states, also known as the former Soviet Union (FSU), the former Soviet Republics and in Russia as the near abroad (russian: links=no, ближнее зарубежье, blizhneye zarubezhye), are the 15 sovereign states that wer ...
and
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russ ...
.
[House Armed Services Committee Approves Fiscal Year 2005 Defense Authorization Bill](_blank)
U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Armed Services. 13 May 2004. 1 October 2008. The program was expanded in 2002 in cooperation with the Department of Defense, the
Department of State
The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other nati ...
, and the
Customs Service
Customs is an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting tariffs and for controlling the flow of goods, including animals, transports, personal effects, and hazardous items, into and out of a country. Traditionally, customs ...
.
To date, nearly 800 export control officials have been trained in some 30 countries around the world.
In 2005, Professor Milhollin testified before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission that weaknesses in
U.S. sanctions
After the failure of the Embargo Act of 1807, the federal government of the United States took little interest in imposing embargoes and economic sanctions against foreign countries until the 20th century. United States trade policy was entirely a ...
law were allowing companies helping to spread weapons of mass destruction to go unpunished. The Project's research was the basis for a November 2005 Senate bill that would have eliminated these loopholes and increased the severity of sanctions against companies that continued to proliferate to Iran.
In 2007, the Project supplied information on Iranian organizations linked to nuclear and missile work that contributed to decisions by the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
, the United States and the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
to freeze the assets of several of these organizations.
[Weisman, Steven.]
Lack of ID Data Impedes U.N. Sanctions Against Iran
” The New York Times, 17 September 2007; see also Lincy, Valerie.
U.S. Failure to Follow Through on Iran Sanctions is Baffling
” World Politics Review 31 May 2007. The Project also exposed the inadequacies of U.S. sanctions enforcement against Iran at the time.
In 2008, the Project published a report revealing that the
U.S. Commerce Department was cutting controls on the sale of militarily useful American products to
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
. After the report was published, the Commerce Department suspended and then reduced its effort to cut the controls.
In 2009, the Project helped the New York County District Attorney's Office investigate sales from China to Iran of nuclear- and missile-usable technology that passed through New York banks. The Project testified on the commodities and firms involved before a grand jury in New York City that subsequently indicted the Chinese company that was making the sales.
In 2010, the Project published a report featured in the Wall Street Journal that described how Iran's national shipping company, blacklisted by the United States along with 123 of its vessels, was evading U.S. sanctions by giving its ships new names, new managers, and new “owners.” Following the Project's report, the U.S. Treasury Department blacklisted many of the ships' new names, along with their new owners and managers.
In 2011, the Project expanded the impact of its Risk Report database, with support from the U.S. State Department, by providing training to hundreds of export control officials in eleven countries, including Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Mexico, Slovenia, and Ukraine.
External links
Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control website* Iran Watch - http://www.iranwatch.org
* Iraq Watch - http://www.iraqwatch.org
* The Risk Report - http://www.riskreport.org
References
{{Authority control
Organizations based in Madison, Wisconsin
Nuclear weapons policy
1986 establishments in Wisconsin