PEACE in Action

Following the Atoms for Peace speech of President Dwight Eisenhower to the UN General Assembly in December 1953, the world's "Atoms for Peace" organization was established in 1957 within the United Nations family—the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The Agency works with its Member States and multiple partners worldwide to promote safe, secure and peaceful nuclear technologies.

The IAEA Secretariat is headquartered in Vienna, Austria. Operational liaison and regional offices are located in Geneva, Switzerland; New York, USA; Toronto, Canada; and Tokyo, Japan. The IAEA runs or supports research centers and scientific laboratories in Vienna and Seibersdorf, Austria; Monaco; and Trieste, Italy.

The IAEA Secretariat is a team of 2200 multi-disciplinary professional and support staff from more than 90 countries. The Agency is led by Director General Mohamed ElBaradei and six Deputy Directors General who head the major departments.

IAEA programs and budgets are set through decisions of its policy making bodies—the 35-member Board of Governors and the General Conference of all Member States. Reports on IAEA activities are submitted annually to the UN General Assembly and, as cases warrant, to the UN Security Council, e.g., regarding non-compliance by States with their safeguards obligations as well as on matters relating to international peace and security.

Three main pillars—or areas of work—underpin the IAEA ́s mission:

• Safety and Security;
• Science and Technology; and
• Safeguards and Verification.

Despite the importance of IAEA's mission, particularly at this time, its Director General, Mohamed ElBaradei, recently spoke of the Agency's financial problems. Excerpts of his speech follow:

"In 2004, a UN High Level Panel singled out the IAEA's work as “an extraordinary bargain.” For $130 million per year, we verify the nuclear programs of all non-nuclear weapon States—more than 900 declared nuclear facilities in 70 countries. Our presence on the ground, combined with our technical expertise, provides unique information and assurance. We are the eyes and ears of the international community."

"Yet the agency constantly risks lagging behind in the technology race because we are forced to make do on a shoestring budget. As new facilities and countries come under safeguards, our portfolio is expanding, without corresponding increases in funding or personnel. It is ironic that, even with the world leaders highlighting nuclear proliferation and nuclear terrorism as the number one global security threat, the IAEA's safeguards laboratories are struggling to make do with outdated equipment, and we have little to no budget to commission R & D (Research & Development) on the new verification technologies that would help us “stay ahead of the game” in the detection of clandestine nuclear activity."

"Given the threat we face, given that IAEA verification, as we have learned, can be crucial for decisions on war and peace, it should be obvious that support for the Agency is key to a viable system of non-proliferation and of international security."

With additional financial resources, the IAEA could purchase a lot more satellite imagery. It could beef up its laboratories with state-of-the-art capabilities, like fission track particle analysis, to help track down and pinpoint the nature of undeclared nuclear activities, even long after the fact. It could bring on more inspectors, purchase improved instrumentation, and be more confident about staying ahead of the game technologically.

To strengthen his argument, Director General ElBaradei tasked the IAEA Secretariat to conduct a detailed review of the nature and scope of IAEA's program in the next decade, based on statutory obligations, decisions of the Policy-making Organs, and the foreseen high priority activities, and to estimate the resources that would be needed to fund these activities. The study is known as the 20/20 study as it is intended to look ahead to 2020.

Subsequently, the Director-General created a high-level panel of experts to review the report, and to provide guidance on appropriate funding levels and mechanisms. The 18-member panel of international figures, known as the Commission of Eminent Persons, has been formed, and its initial meeting was scheduled for 25-26 February 2008 in Vienna. Hopefully, its findings will stimulate further discussion—among Member States, between the States and the IAEA Secretariat, and by the broader public—about the future of the Agency and how best it can contribute in the coming years to the efforts of the international community to achieve development, peace, and security.

The members of the Commission are:

Dr. Ernesto Zedillo (Chairman) - Director of the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization; former President of Mexico

Ambassador Oluyemi Adeniji - former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nigeria; former Member of the Board of Governors of the IAEA

Lakhdar Brahimi - Visiting Scholar at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey; former UN Under-Secretary-General, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General, and Chair of the Panel on UN Peace Operations

Lajos Bokros - Professor of Economics and Public Policy, and Chief Operating Officer of the Central European University, Budapest, Hungary

Dr. Rajagopala Chidambaram - Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India; DAE Homi Bhabha Professor; former Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission; former Director of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre

Senator Lamberto Dini - President of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Italian Senate

Gareth Evans - President and Chief Executive Officer, International Crisis Group, Brussels; former Australian Foreign Minister 1988-1998; former Minister for Resources and Energy 1984-1987

Louise Fréchette - Distinguished Fellow, The Centre for International Governance Innovation; former Canadian Deputy Minister; former UN Deputy Secretary-General

Anne Lauvergeon - Chief Executive Officer of AREVA Group

Kishore Mahbubani - Dean, Professor in the Practice of Public Policy, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore; former Ambassador to the UN; former President of the UN Security Council

Ambassador Ronaldo Mota Sardenberg - President of the National Telecommunication Agency of Brazil (ANATEL); former Permanent Representative of Brazil to the UN; former Minister of Science and Technology

Ambassador Pius Yasebasi Ng ́Wandu - former Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education, and Minister of Water, United Republic of Tanzania

Senator Sam Nunn - Co-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Nuclear Threat Initiative; former United States Senator

Ambassador Karl Theodor Paschke - former UN Under-Secretary-General for Internal Oversight Services 1994-1999; former Permanent Representative of the Federal Republic of Germany to the IAEA 1984-1986

Dr. Wolfgang Schüssel - former Federal Chancellor of Austria; Leader of the Parliamentary Group of the Austrian People ́s Party

Academician Evgeny Velikhov - President of the Russian Research Centre Kurchatov Institute; Academician and Secretary of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Professor Wang Dazhong - Honorary Chairman of Tsinghua University Council; Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences; former President of Tsinghua University; Director of the Institute of Nuclear Energy Technology (INET) of Tsinghua University; Vice-Chairman, Standing Committee of Beijing People's Congress

Dr. Hiroyuki Yoshikawa - President of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Tokyo; former President of the University of Tokyo

Special thanks to Ashleigh Brilliant
(Brilliant Enterprises; 117 W. Valerio St.; Santa Barbara, CA 93101 USA)
for permission to use his Pot-Shots postcards.