Twenty years ago, in November 1994, the United States and Kazakhstan completed an unprecedented, highly secret, joint operation removing approximately 600 kilograms of highly enriched uranium from a former Soviet nuclear plant in Ust-Kamenogorsk to permanent storage in the United States. The operation, dubbed "Project Sapphire", was funded by the U.S. Department of Defense's Cooperative Threat Reduction (Nunn-Lugar) Program. This program helped secure nuclear warheads and fissile materials in the former Soviet Union and ensured their relocation to Russia from Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Belarus. Kazakhstan's early decision to become a nuclear weapon-free state made it a global leader in the non-proliferation movement.
To mark the 20th anniversary of these efforts, please join us for a discussion of the history and lessons of U.S.-Kazakhstan joint efforts.
Welcoming remarks by:
Andrew Kuchins
Director and Senior Fellow, Russia and Eurasia Program, CSIS
Opening remarks by:
Kairat Umarov
Ambassador of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the United States
Keynote speech by:
Senator Richard Lugar
President of the Lugar Center
Presentations by:
Andrew Weber
Debuty Head, Ebola Coordination Unit, U.S. Department of State; Member of the 1994 top-secret "Tiger Team"
Laura Holgate
Senior Director, WMD Terrorism and Threat Reduction at the National Security Council
David Hoffman
Pulitzer-Prize winning author of The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and its Dangerous Legacy
Moderated by:
Tom Blanton
Director, National Security Archive at the George Washington University
Closing Remarks by:
Richard Hoagland
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, U.S. Department of State