U.S.-Russian Efforts in Research and Development: A Cornerstone for Achieving Shared Nonproliferation Objectives
(Remarks for World Russia Forum 2004: April 27, 2004)

Given by: Laura Schmidt Williams
Chief, Bio-Chem Engagement Team (NP/PTR)
U.S. Department of State

I would like to begin by expressing by gratitude to the organizers as well as to the Civilian Research and Development Foundation for this opportunity to address a topic whose significance is recognized by all those present here today: the importance of bilateral cooperation in research and development as a cornerstone to achieving our shared nonproliferation objectives. These efforts are also increasingly important to U.S.-Russian cooperation in another critical area: our ongoing work to counter the horrifying possibility of terrorist acquisition of weapons of mass destruction.

The scope of our bilateral programs to combat the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (or WMD) is well known. While there are a few continuing challenges, we can herald many successes involving our joint programs like the Defense Department’s Cooperative Threat Reduction program and the State Department programs under the Nonproliferation, Antiterrorism, Demining and Related Initiatives (or NADR) Account. Included among these efforts is substantial support for the International Science and Technology Center (or ISTC) in Moscow, through which a number of U.S. programs implement their activities in Russia.

As many of you are aware, the ISTC’s mission is to support the nonproliferation objectives of its multilateral membership via activities in the area of science cooperation. Programs implemented by a closely-knit community of U.S. Government agencies through the ISTC represent the bulk of our efforts in Russia to redirect former WMD scientists to long-term sustainable civilian activity. When the U.S. and Russia began working together within the framework of the ISTC in 1994, U.S. efforts focused largely on nuclear and missile scientists. However, the growing threat of proliferation and terrorist acquisition of chemical and biological weapons inspired the U.S. to create a targeted initiative focused on the former Soviet biological and chemical weapons community. Thus, in 1997, the Bio-Chem Redirect Program was born.

From a modest beginning, this effort has grown to an $85 million program involving four U.S. Government agencies. The State Department provides funding annually to the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Agriculture, and the Environmental Protection Agency to implement the Bio-Chem Redirect program. These efforts are closely coordinated with complementary biological and chemical redirection efforts undertaken by other U.S. agencies, including the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, and the Civilian Research and Development Foundation.

In addition, important bilateral research cooperation is underway via the State Department’s BioIndustry Initiative (or BII). BII was established in 2002 with an emergency supplemental appropriation of $30 million and a mandate to combat the threat of biological terrorism. BII is the only U.S. program to reconfigure large-scale biologics production facilities in Russia for civilian purposes. In addition, BII supports accelerated drug and vaccine development to combat highly infectious diseases. An important component of this work is drug discovery and development involving key Russian institutes, such as the State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology at Vector, the State Research Center for Applied Microbiology in Obolensk, the Institute of Highly Pure Biopreparations in St. Petersburg, and a host of others. Under BII, we are also implementing at four Russian laboratories an ambitious toxicology testing program for new drugs called RABITT. And we are working with Russia to build a pipeline to funnel new drugs and vaccines to the marketplace. To do this, we crafted a bioconsortium of Russia’s leading biotech labs called TEMPO. TEMPO works closely with members of the U.S. Center for Innovative Medicine and Integrated Technologies (or CIMIT), which includes such scientific luminaries as MIT, Harvard Medical Center, and Draper Labs.

In short, our bilateral bio-chem engagement activities are fulfilling an important nonproliferation objective by engaging underemployed scientists with dual-use expertise in transparent civilian research -- but that’s not all. Via this research, we are making important strides forward in areas critical to global public health. For instance, U.S. and Russian researchers have developed promising antivirals to treat smallpox – a good capability to have in our toolkit in the event of a smallpox-related bioterror attack. Cooperative efforts are also underway to develop a vaccine to prevent HIV/AIDS, and to identify new drugs for treating multi-drug resistant tuberculosis – lethal threats to global health. We are also strengthening the agricultural sector -- so important to both our countries -- by engaging in projects to improve livestock health such as: combating foot-and-mouth disease, sheep pox, West Nile virus, hog cholera and avian flu. And we are supporting environmental remediation and monitoring – most recently by establishing a Russian-American Center for Ecological Monitoring involving scientists from the Kirov region – to the shared benefit of Russia, the U.S. and the world.

International scientific cooperation in the biological and chemical areas presents both unique opportunities and challenges. Among the latter is the inherent dual-use nature of biological and chemical knowledge, materials and technologies. Efforts to develop an enhanced vaccine to prevent influenza can also be used to design a stronger flu strain capable of being unleashed as a biological agent, with effects commensurate to the devastating influenza pandemic of the early 20th century. Research to combat the destructive effects of wheat rust can also be manipulated to increase the vulnerability of this vital foodstuff to the disease. Although the benefits of scientific cooperation are clear, our collaborative efforts in these areas of dual-use potential must therefore proceed with the greatest care.

Another continuing challenge is attracting the collaborative partners and outside investors necessary to ensure the long-term sustainability of our work. We have had some success under the ISTC Partner Program, in which U.S. companies invest their own resources into promising research projects. In 2003, the ISTC attracted $4 million in private sector investment, representing a growth in private investment from previous years. But much more is needed. A staggering queue of scientifically-attractive projects from Russian institutes awaits ISTC funding. For U.S.-funded projects, we strongly prefer those which involve an appropriate U.S. collaborator. Many promising research projects are never considered by us for funding, merely because they lack a U.S. collaborator. This remains the case even though we ask little more of the collaborator than a modest investment of their time to oversee and provide input to the research from afar, with perhaps a trip or two to Russia to monitor results. The Russian institutes are, in effect, performing contract research from which the U.S. collaborator benefits for free, since we pay project expenses on the Russian side – including scientist salaries, lab equipment and reagent purchases, and Russian travel to work with their U.S. collaborators. Therefore we must expand dramatically our outreach to U.S. companies, academic institutions, industry associations, business and investment communities in order to promote their active participation in our programs.

To expand our outreach to the chemical industry, for example, we are planning a first-of-its-kind Chemical Science and Commercialization Conference, which will take place in Moscow from September 27-29. This conference will be the first ever to focus on those former Soviet chemical weapons research and production institutes that retain scientific expertise of relevance from a nonproliferation perspective. We will use the conference to facilitate matchmaking between these former CW institutes, potential commercial partners and investors. Further information about the conference is available online at http://biistate.net/chemconference/.

Across the board for our engagement programs, our ultimate goal is to generate a groundswell of commercial and academic involvement in research collaboration with Russian scientists which will carry these efforts when, in the course of time, U.S. nonproliferation assistance to Russia diminishes. Building stronger bridges now between these talented scientists and the U.S. commercial, academic and investment communities will be critical to our success.