This bulletin highlights significant events in the world of arms control in the coming week, as compiled by staff and friends of the Arms Control Association. (Send your suggestions for events to be covered here.)- Jefferson Morley, Senior Editorial Consultant, Arms Control Today.OPCW Inspectors Making Early Progress in SyriaInspectors from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), supported by a team from the UN, are in Syria are monitoring, verifying and reporting on Syria's compliance with U.N resolution calling destruction of the country's chemical arsenal. The OPCW says a "range of items," including missile warheads, aerial bombs and mixing and filling equipment have already been destroyed.The executive Council of the OPCW will meet Tuesday in The Hague, Netherlands. The Syrian chemical weapons program is on the agenda.For more on Syria, CW, how the demilitarization plan came together and what comes next, see "Plan Set to Rid Syria of Chemical Arms" by Dan Horner and the editorial "Syria Plan is Difficult But Doable" by Daryl Kimball in the October issue of Arms Control TodayUN General Assembly Committee on Disarmament Meets Oct. 7Known as the "First Committee," this body will address disarmament, global challenges and threats to peace that affect the international community. The meetings of the First Committee are webcast live on UN Web TV and key speeches will be posted on the Web site of Reaching Critical Will as they are presented.For a review of last year's First Committee debates and resolutions, see the news report "UN First Committee Seeks FMCT Progress," which was published in the December 2012 issue of Arms Control Today.A Half Century of the Limited Test Ban Treaty October 7 marks the 50th anniversary of President Kennedy's signing of the articles of ratification of the Limited Test Ban Treaty, which prohibits nuclear weapons tests "or any other nuclear explosion in the atmosphere, in outer space, and under water."The U.S. State Department provides further detail on how the treaty came together in its LTBT fact sheet.P5+1 Talks with Iran Set for October 15-16 in GenevaHigh-level negotiators from Iran, the United States and its P5+1 partners are due to meet in just over a week for the first talks on Iran's controversial nuclear program since last spring. The new round of talks follows a busy week of high-level diplomacy at the United Nations in New York late last month.See the latest issue of Arms Control Today for a review of the new "Iran, U.S. Push on Nuclear Diplomacy" by Kelsey Davenport.For a deeper dive on the status of Iran's nuclear program, the negotiating history, and the sanctions regime, check our ACA's in-depth briefing book "Solving the Iranian Nuclear Puzzle," updated in Sept. 2013.
“[My time at ACA] prepared me very well for the position that I took following that with the State Department, where I then implemented and helped to implement many of the policies that we tried to promote.”