The Committee on International Security and Arms Control (CISAC) was established in 1980 to engage the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union on international security and arms control, providing a channel of communication on these issues at a time when the governments were not talking about them to each other. CISAC added bilateral dialogues with China in 1988 and India in 1998. The technical focus of these unique Track II dialogues among technical, military, and policy experts allows discussion and debate to occur on an objective basis grounded in the common language of science. This is especially valuable in engaging countries where official relations are or have been adversarial, because of the special relevance as well as nonideological character of the scientific and technological facts underlying many international security questions and also because of the mutual respect scientists tend to hold for one another based on intellectual accomplishment independent of political allegiance.

As a result, the dialogue agendas can include many issues that are too politically sensitive to be addressed through formal government-to-government channels. The goals are to inform policymakers, promote mutual understanding, offer policy options, and lay the foundations for cooperation, where appropriate.

As the Cold War recedes into history, nuclear weapons continue to exist even as powerful new technologies are being discovered and applied for good, but also have the potential for enormous harm. Moreover, global powers now vie with regional powers; with multinational corporations that may dominate a technology and its expertise; and with terrorists and criminal organizations empowered by modern technologies. CISAC helps to promote responsible governance and stability in the light of these technological and societal developments.

The Russia Dialogue currently engages experts through the Russian Academy of Sciences and other scientific institutions to address technical aspects of strategic stability, ballistic missile defense, space security, conventional long-range precision weapons, cyber security, and cooperation on nonproliferation measures. Past discussions have addressed warhead monitoring and the lifecycle of a nuclear weapon.

The China Dialogues have multiple engagements: (1) Nuclear nonproliferation, arms control, verification, and delivery systems; with the nuclear weapons establishment. (2) Cyber security, military applications, and crisis management; with cyber military institutes. NASEM more broadly has established collaborations on biosafety, biosecurity, and infectious disease research; with virology experts in the Chinese Academy of Sciences, China CDC, and Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

The India Dialogue includes nuclear safety and security, space security, and cyber security, engaging experts through the National Institute for Advanced Studies and others. The National Academies and Indian partners have also convened workshops on emerging infectious disease, biosafety, and biosecurity; science and technology for countering terrorism; and nuclear materials security, with experts from U.S. and Indian laboratories, universities, and institutes