Security Policy

IGCC remains highly committed to its original field of study, and security policy implications, both international and national, cross-cut all of IGCC's programs. Beyond preventive diplomacy and "track two" initiatives, for many years IGCC conducted teaching seminars for the academic and policy communities on nonproliferation issues. Recent IGCC training programs such as "Public Policy and Nuclear Threats" and "Public Policy and Biological Threats" continue the IGCC tradition of informing and instructing future decision makers.

Current Projects
Past Projects
Selected Publications

Current IGCC projects on International Security Policy

Terrorist Organizations: Social Science Research on Terrorism

The IGCC conference Terrorist Organizations: Social Science Research on Terrorism drew together academics and practitioners to discuss current research relevant to counterterrorism and counterinsurgency. Leading social scientists from political science, economics, sociology, and anthropology and practitioners from the U.S. military, the U.S. State Department, and the British Foreign Service presented their latest findings and on-the-ground experiences. Participants came from the U.S. Special Operations Command, the British Embassy, Stanford, Harvard, UC Berkeley, Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Queen’s University in Belfast, the University of Georgia, UC Irvine, UCLA, UC Davis, UC San Diego, San Diego State University, the Center for Combating Terrorism at West Point, the Rand Corporation, Livermore National Laboratories, the US Institute for Peace, the Naval Postgraduate School and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Organizers are pursuing funding for a series of follow-on activities, including a project on terrorists and rebels, a follow-up conference focused on policy and a training program in evaluating benign interventions for Special Operations forces.

Critical Infrastructure Protection

The concept of "critical infrastructure protection" (CIP), which came into being in the mid-1990s, was placed at the forefront of U.S. national security concerns after the events of 9/11. CIP methods and resources are intended to deter or mitigate incidents caused maliciously (by terrorists or criminals), by accident or human error (chemical spills, accidental release of hazardous materials), or as the result of a natural disaster (hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, floods).

The debate has largely been confined to the technical community, perhaps because of the technical knowledge requirements and inherently interdisciplinary nature of the subject. However, decisions are being made that may have far-reaching and unintended public policy consequences. For example, most control systems built for the energy industry were not designed with security in mind and now must be retooled. As well, policymakers need to be better informed about the technical considerations of CIP.

In conjunction with the Control Systems Security Center at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL), IGCC and the Center for Science and Technology Policy at George Mason University have produced a public policy-focused curriculum intended to help to implement a long-term security culture within the control system community.

Northeast Asia Cooperation Dialogue

In 1993, Prof. Susan Shirk (IGCC Director 1992-97) founded the Northeast Asia Cooperation Dialogue (NEACD). NEACD brings together senior officials, active military, and academic and policy experts from China, Japan, Korea, Russia, and the United States in informal "track-two" settings to brainstorm specific ways to reduce mistrust and build regional cooperation. NEACD participants have agreed on common principles of state-to-state relations, to discuss the relation of national policies to current regional issues, and to share defense information.

Arms Control and Security Improvement in the Middle East

After the Middle East Arms Control and Regional Security (ACRS) negotiations stalled in 1995–96, IGCC began a three-year program to engage Arab and Israeli military personnel in informal security discussions. Initiated in 1997, Arms Control and Security Improvement in the Middle East assembled active and retired military officers to study emerging global military trends, and examine their possible role in arms control regimes and regional security cooperation. This unique track-two project creates a mechanism for ongoing communication between key regional military players, especially important in the absence of formal negotiations such as ACRS.

The IGCC National Security Fellows Program

Each winter, IGCC and UCSD host eighteen distinguished foreign scholars and professionals to examine "U.S. National Security Policymaking in a Post-9/11 World" by focusing on four broad thematic areas:

1. Foreign Policy, National Security, and the Opinion-Forming Process;
2. Terrorism and National Security;
3. U.S. Foreign Policy and Regional Security, and;
4. One World: Globalization, Technological Leadership, and Non-traditional Security

A four-week academic residency at UC San Diego precedes a two-week study tour to policy and cultural centers in California and Washington, D.C.

The intensive, interdisciplinary program focuses on U.S. national security policymaking and how the events of 9/11 have altered this policy landscape and process. The program is funded through a grant from the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs (ECA) Study of the United States Branch, which seeks to promote a better understanding of the people, institutions, and culture of the United States among foreign scholars and professionals.

Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction

In 1996, IGCC brought UC-area experts to the Los Alamos National Laboratory for a program on The Challenges of International Security. Three recent IGCC teaching seminars for UC, Cal State and California community college faculty and graduate students were: The Spread of Nuclear Weapons (1996, Profs. Kenneth WALTZ, UC Berkeley and Scott SAGAN, Stanford U.); The Challenges of Weapons of Mass Destruction: Emerging Issues of Supply and Demand (1997, Women in International Security); and Strategic Weapons Proliferation (1998, Nonproliferation Policy Education Center).

In 1998, when South Asian nuclear tests renewed attention on nuclear weapons issues, IGCC hosted a Washington seminar entitled Nuclear Developments in South Asia: Challenges for US Policy. Dr. Neil JOECK (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory), Prof. Robert SCALAPINO (UC Berkeley), and eminent experts reviewed US policy, regional developments, and future options (IGCC Newsletter Fall 1998). Security policy implications cross-cut all of IGCC's programs.

Selected Publications on International Security Policy

Number: Policy Paper 56
Title: Maritime Aspects of Arms Control and Security Improvement in the Middle East
Author(s): David N. Griffiths
Published by: IGCC
Pages: 28
Year of Publication: 2000
Related PolicyPack: PolicyPack 56

Number: Policy Paper 52
Title: Understanding Europe's New Common Foreign and Security Policy
Author(s): Michael Smith
Published by: IGCC
Pages: 35
Year of Publication: 2000
Related PolicyPack: PolicyPack 52

Old Series

Number: Policy Paper 05 (Old Series)
Title: SDI: Two Views of Professional Responsibility
Author(s): David Lorge Parnas, Danny Cohen
Published by: IGCC
Pages: 24
Year of Publication: 1987

Number: Research Paper 04
Title:Where Have All the Profits Gone? An Analysis of the Major U.S. Defense Contractors: 1950–1985
Author(s): David E. Kaun
ISBN: 0-934637-9-1
Pages:
Published by: IGCC
Year of Publication: 1988

Number: Research Paper 03
Title: Science Advice to Presidents: From Test Bans to the Strategic Defense Initiative
Author(s): G. Allen Greb
ISBN: 0-934637-04-0
Pages: 21
Published by: IGCC
Year of Publication: 1987

Number: Research Paper 01
Title: Nuclear Fission: Reaction to the Discovery in 1939
Author(s): Lawrence Badash, Elizabeth Hodes, Adolph Tiddens
ISBN: 0-934637-01-6
Pages: 53
Published by: IGCC
Year of Publication: 1985

Number: Policy Brief 01 (old series)
Title: What Do We Do with Nuclear Weapons Now?
Author: Michael May
Published by: IGCC
Pages: 21
Year of Publication: 1990

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