Seven Big Summits: The Nuclear Security Summit

Event date: March 31 - April 1

The US Council on Foreign Relation's "Seven Big Summits" calendar kicks off in early spring, when President Obama will welcome world leaders back for the final meeting of what is perhaps his signature foreign policy initiative, the biennial Nuclear Security Summit (NSS). The president launched the NSS to close a glaring gap in the nuclear nonproliferation regime: the presence of loose nukes and fissile material that could fall into the hands of terrorist groups or rogue states. As at the three previous meetings, four dozen countries and several international organizations will announce “gift baskets”—steps they have taken, independently and jointly, to reduce the vulnerability of their nuclear arsenals and facilities. Unfortunately, the NSS series is currently slated to expire when Obama leaves office. To cement his legacy, the president should work with foreign partners to give this ad hoc process a permanent institutional home, perhaps by transferring it (along with additional resources) to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The Nuclear Security Summit | UN General Assembly Special Session on the World Drug Problem | World Humanitarian Summit | Group of Seven Summit | Group of Twenty Summit | Habitat III | Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change