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From 11-13 November, 2012, the Project on Strategic Stability Evaluation (POSSE) held its annual meeting at the Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation (VCDNP) in Austria.

POSSE Reception Dinner at Vienna Marriott Hotel with Guest Speaker Hans Blix

As a cooperative project between the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies and Georgia Tech's Center for International Strategy, Technology, and Policy, and with funds provided by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, POSSE is building a global network of leading young scholars who are moving beyond traditional concepts about nuclear weapons.

The program brings together promising advanced graduate students and young professors from the United States, Russia, China, India, Pakistan, Israel, and France to analyze alternative frameworks and methodologies for re-thinking the requirements for strategic stability amid deep reductions in standing nuclear arsenals. It also seeks to engage academics in the policy debate over the wisdom and modalities of pursuing visions and steps towards deep reductions, including nuclear disarmament.

POSSE convenes at the VCDNP

Each POSSE member submitted a draft paper focused either on his or her home country or to the general global nuclear weapons debate. They also each drafted a short policy memo that extracted the policy implications of their draft paper to present to policy makers in Vienna.

The draft papers were reviewed by distinguished senior reviewers including Patrick James (University of Southern Carolina), Alexey Fenenko (Institute of International Security Studies of Russian Academy of Sciences), Jeffrey Lewis (CNS-MIIS), and Heinz Gärtner (the Austrian Institute for International Affairs).

Several POSSE members

The POSSE delegation met with several senior officials and experts, including Dr. Christophe Carle from the Director General's Office of Policy at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Mr. Tariq Rauf, also formerly of the IAEA. Mr. Jean du Preez of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty Organization offered a tour and briefing of the CTBTO Operations Center, the Rooftop Lab and Radionuclide Station, the Wavelength Analysis Station, and the Radionuclide and Noble Gas Data Processing and Analysis Station. The delegation also heard presentations by leading diplomats and scholars including Dr. Hans Blix of Sweden, Ambassador Rüdiger Lüdeking of Germany, Dr. Ole Reistad of Norway, Ambassador Alexander Kmentt of Austria, Ambassador Alfredo Labbé of Chile, and Ambassador Khaled Shamaa of Egypt.

Elena Sokova, Amb. Alfredo Labbé, Amb. Alexander Kmentt, Amb. Khaled Shamaa, and William Potter

POSSE Members with Ambassador of Norway Mr. Jan Petersen, reception at the Ambassador's Residence.