Intelligence Expert Greg Thielmann Joins ACA: Will Lead New "Realistic Threat Assessment and Responses Project"

For Immediate Release: March 9, 2009
Press Contact: Daryl G. Kimball, Executive Director, (202) 463-8270 x 107; Greg Thielmann, Senior Fellow, (202) 463-8270 x 103

(Washington, D.C.): The Arms Control Association (ACA) announces that intelligence expert Greg Thielmann has joined the organization as a senior fellow to lead a new research-oriented "Realistic Threat Assessment and Response Project." The new project aims to foster a better public and congressional understanding of nuclear- and missile-related global security
threats and pragmatic options for dealing with them.

The work of the new project, which is made possible by financial support from the Ploughshares Fund, the Ford Foundation, and ACA member contributions, will focus on producing timely, written analyses and media commentary on weapons-related threats relevant to today's key nonproliferation debates.

A partial list of topics that will be covered by the project include:

Iran Threat Perceptions. Accurately assessing Iran's nuclear weapons and ballistic missile capabilities and options for mitigating identified threats.
Missile Defense. Analyzing the realistic need for and possible reactions to the most controversial missiles defense proposals, including responses by Russia to a possible U.S. deployment in Eastern Europe; China to deployments in Taiwan; and Pakistan to missile defense systems in India.
U.S. Nuclear Doctrine and Strategic Arms Control. Answering questions about the types of monitoring of U.S. and Russian strategic nuclear arsenals and verification of treaties limiting those arsenals that would meet U.S. national security goals, and the role of nuclear weapons in major likely military and security contingencies.
New Nonproliferation and Counterproliferation Strategies. Assessing the capabilities and challenges of WMD interdiction efforts such as the Proliferation Security Initiative.
Verification of the Denuclearization of North Korea. Identifying the most effective approaches to ensuring the full implementation of the Six-Party Process.

Last week he released a media advisory with ACA analyst Peter Crail to correct inaccurate portrayals of information regarding Iran's nuclear capabilities.

"The effectiveness of U.S. nonproliferation policy will depend in large part on whether U.S. policy makers and the news media base their judgments and reporting on accurate information, sound technical analysis, and realistic assessments of nuclear- and missile-related security threats," said Daryl G. Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association. "We are thrilled that Greg Thielmann has joined ACA to help contribute to our expanded efforts in this area," Kimball said.

Thielmann most recently served as a senior professional staffer of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI). Prior to joining the SSCI in 2005, he was a U.S. Foreign Service Officer for 25 years, last serving as Director of the Strategic, Proliferation and Military Affairs Office in the Department of State's Bureau of Intelligence and Research. Greg is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a former member of the Board of Directors of the Arms Control Association (2003-2005).

Following his July 2003 appearance at an ACA press briefing on faulty intelligence assessments on Iraq's WMD capabilities, Thielmann was featured on a CBS News 60 Minutes II segment titled "The Man Who Knew," which won a Emmy award for reporter Scott Pelley.

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The Arms Control Association is an independent, nonpartisan membership organization dedicated to practical strategies to reduce and eliminate the threats posed by the world's most dangerous weapons.