Nuclear Security Summit: Before & After Seoul

Session: Regency Room
Date/Time: February 19, 2013 / 17:00-18:15

Speakers:

John Bernhard Former Danish Ambassador to the IAEA and CTBTO
Piet de Klerk Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
Kim Bonghyun Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade
Gary Samore Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University

Rapporteur:

Jenny Town, Johns Hopkins SAIS
Natalia Sharova, Hudson Institute

Press Release Brief

1. The value of the Nuclear Security Summit process is that not only has raised the profile of what needs to be done against nuclear terrorism, but that it has also led to concrete commitments by states.

2. Gary Samore offered lessons to Hague NSS organizers of 1) keep it focused; 2) keep it simple; 3) keep it practical; 4) keep it going.

3. There is not yet a consensus on whether or not the 2014 NSS should be the last summit.

4. Ambassador de Klerk raised the question that with all that has been achieved already through the NSS process, what more can realistically be achieved at the Hague?

5. There is a need for greater outreach and inclusion of the Non-Aligned Movement states in the NSS.

6. While the panelists agree that the IAEA should be the chief institution to take up the issue of nuclear security, there is still question as to when and how that transition should take place.