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There is now a CONTENT FREEZE for Mercury while we switch to a new platform. It began on Friday, March 10 at 6pm and will end on Wednesday, March 15 at noon. No new content can be created during this time, but all material in the system as of the beginning of the freeze will be migrated to the new platform, including users and groups. Functionally the new site is identical to the old one. webteam@gatech.edu
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Atlanta, GA | Posted: February 17, 2012
Last week, Mr. Chris Park spoke on “Biotechnology, National Security, and International Affairs: Stories from the Front Lines.” Mr. Park, who serves as director of the Office of Biological Policy Staff in the Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation at the US Department of State, shared some of his own observations and personal analysis on the dual-use challenges facing the US government in preventing the proliferation of biotechnology for deadly harm, while recognizing that modern biotechnology is rapidly changing, readily available, and commercially less and less expensive every day. He highlighted a broad range of US efforts to prevent the proliferation and use of biological weapons by state or non-state actors and to increase international readiness to deal with biological events, including participation in the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) implementation and review process.
Mr. Park has previously served as the Bureau’s Senior Advisor on Bioterrorism. Before that, he was senior desk officer for the Chemical Weapons Convention, where he dealt, at various times, with verification of chemical industry, chemical weapons destruction, budget negotiations, and other matters. Prior to this, he spent two years in The Hague as a member of the U.S. Delegation to the Preparatory Commission for the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). He got his start at the Department in the Bureau of International Organization Affairs, where he prepared guidance and served on delegations to a variety of major international organizations.
Park’s talk was sponsored by the GT’s Center for International Strategy, Technology, and Policy (CISTP) and by the GT-FIRE project on "Educating a Biotechnology Policy & Security Workforce" which is co-directed by Nunn School Assistant Professor, Margaret E. Kosal, and College of Engineering Professor, Robert Butera.
