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Much of the advanced technology necessary to create
nuclear weapons and WMDs is available through
commercial sources because of globalization and the
proliferation of higher-end
technology. “If the U.S. wants
to protect this potentially
destructive technology it can’t
be passive and it can’t afford
to be reactive. It’s got to be
proactive in going out to the
countries that have the capabilities
to produce these items and
technologies, or that might be
exploited as places where illicit
traders or smugglers would go
to acquire them,” notes Early.
United Nations Security Council
Resolution 1540 provides
further incentive for countries
to accept the assistance the
U.S. is offering. The resolution,
adopted in 2004, created an
international legal obligation for
all countries to impose effective
strategic trade control systems.
This fall, Early and PISCES
colleagues Lara Howe and
Richard Young will travel to
Armenia for a session with
government officials. PISCES
has already completed workshops
in the Balkans, Lebanon, Kazakhstan, and the Kyrgyz
Republic. Upcoming assignments include Brazil, Oman,
and Kosovo. In preparation, the team must first conduct
assessments of the current state of a country’s strategic
trade control system, analyzing which areas of the
system require enhancement or improvement. Early and
his colleagues are then able to provide recommendations
(At left) Bryan Early and the
PISCES team hold a planning
meeting at Rockefeller College
The PISCES team: (Top row, left
to right) Bryan Early, Jay Nash
(Lower row, left to right) Richard Young,
Lara Howe, and Ryan Cathie
for how that country can implement international
best practices.
“We have to wear many hats,” says Early about the
PISCES team. “We have to be
comparativists because each
country we go to has a different
political system. There’s no
standard strategic trade control
system that’s one-size-fits-all.
More than any other work I do,
this is the most strenuous interdisciplinary
exercise. It draws
on my academic knowledge,
my ability to be a policy analyst,
and my understanding of how
to get things done within
political systems. I’ve had great
opportunities to travel, see
different countries, be exposed
to different cultures, and learn
about the different ways that
people govern themselves.
That’s really informed my work
on the academic side as much
as anything I’ve learned in
books or through my graduate
studies. It’s a different style
Bryan Early near Ala-Too Square in Bishkek by a statue of of work but it’s one where my
Manas, the legendary hero of the Kyrgyz nation.
academic perspective and my
work for an academic audience
can contribute to what I can do
in the policy world. My interactions and experience in the
policy world give me fresh ideas and perspectives for my
academic work. I feel like I’m bridging a divide between
these two different communities that have two different
perspectives on politics. If you’re comfortable going back
and forth between them, it can be a fruitful exchange.”
www.albany.edu/rockefeller
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