Gary Bertsch, director of UGA’s Center for International Trade and Security, participated in a panel discussion with journalists earlier this semester in Moscow when the university hosted a workshop and an international legislative briefing about international security. An except:

“We truly are in a race between cooperation and catastrophe. So, what are our next steps? Why are we here in Moscow? Why are we having this conference and meeting with your parliamentarians ? Because we think, number one, we have to heighten awareness. We cannot ignore these issues.

“Number two, we must work in our societies and in other societies to promote and develop a nuclear security culture. We must have the attitudes and behaviors that will make our nuclear sites and other weapons sites, including chemical and biological, more secure.

“And lastly, we must make sure that those people who are involved in this work at our sites are implementing the very best practices that can be cooperatively identified through our joint discussions. . . .

“In democracies there is a special role that elected parliaments can play in listening to the people and meeting with the constituents, with observing these issues and working with the executive branch.

“We have observed that the growing cooperation between the U.S. Congress and the Russian Federal Assembly is having positive impacts both in Washington and in Moscow. They are discussing legislation, for example, the utility of the Patriot Act in the U.S., and what can be done in the future to promote the kind of legislation that will be good for the U.S., good for Russia and a signal for other countries of what can be done in putting together the laws, rules and regulations that will make sure that our societies will deal with this challenge of international terrorism.”