The Center for International Trade and Security strives to mitigate the threat posed by trade of weapons of mass
destruction materials and technologies and other military-related transfers through research, training, and outreach.

The Center (CITS) carries out its mission by engaging and informing policymakers, industry representatives, educators, students, and the general public, both in the United States and abroad, about the dangers of trade in and theft of weapons and weapons components. Our policy research is disseminated in print and on the Internet in books, reports, editorials, briefings, and journals, including its own, The Monitor, and in public forums hosted both by the Center and by its colleagues in the worldwide strategic trade community, to stimulate and facilitate international dialogue. CITS focuses on fostering international cooperation to prevent the spread of weapons and related technologies by organizing exchanges and training programs for government and industry officials and academic and policy experts to develop dynamic, robust systems for monitoring, controlling, and, where need be, preventing the trade in WMD-related materials.

The Center also puts great emphasis on the one undertaking that is most critical to its mission: the education of University of Georgia undergraduate and graduate students for careers in international and homeland security. CITS students have earned distinguished fellowships and scholarships from foundations and educational institutions, including the Fulbright Program and Harvard University, and have gone on to positions with government institutions and organizations around the world, including the United States Department of State, the United Nations, and the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Even before the Iron Curtain fell and the Soviet Union dissolved into independent states in December 1991, the Center for International Trade and Security was actively bridging relations between the United States and the states of Eastern Europe. 

The University of Georgia established the Center, then called the Center for East-West Trade Policy, in the spring of 1987 with the goal of using its research, education, and service to promote peace, trade, and security.  By researching political, economic and security issues related to international trade and technology transfer, and developing enlightened trade and security policies, the Center began to make a substantial contribution toward the goal of building a safer world.

The Center's early work benefited greatly from the wisdom and guiding hands of the late Dean Rusk, former Secretary of State under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, and Martin Hillenbrand, former ambassador and Assistant Secretary of State.  Upon retirement from government service, both men came to the University of Georgia to share their experience.  Through their guidance the Center has become an instructional laboratory, a place to train students to conduct research, develop new ideas, and share knowledge.

By 1990, Center researchers were acknowledged experts on nonproliferation and security issues.  In 1990, Gary Bertsch was called to testify for the second time before the House Foreign Affairs Committee as it considered whether or not to expand high technology trade with the former Soviet Union.  In 1992, Igor Khripunov, a former Soviet and Russian foreign service officer with expertise in arms control and nonproliferation, joined the Center to head its Newly Independent States (NIS) Program.  The Center routinely held conferences on trade and security issues and began a multi-year study entitled, "Nonproliferation Export Controls in the 1990s: Controlling the Spread of Weapons of Mass Destruction" which would eventually reach governments and businesses around the world.

Over the past two decades, the Center's activities have expanded beyond the states of the former Soviet Union to include trade and security issues all over the world.  In 1997, former US Senator Sam Nunn asked the Center to host and co-sponsor the inaugural Sam Nunn Policy Forum to address issues of terrorism, weapons of mass destruction and US preparedness.  The Center regularly brings esteemed academics, government officials, industry leaders, and members of non-governmental organizations together from over 65 countries around the globe to discuss the issue of balancing trade interests with security.  CITS outreach efforts in the NIS and elsewhere have focused on enhancing nuclear security by training facility personnel, educating industry, and evaluating government programs designed to improve security.

As all nations of the world confront the considerable security challenges of the new millennium, the Center for International Trade and Security continues to be a source of reliable information, and remains dedicated to research, training, and outreach to promote greater understanding between and peaceful cooperation among nations.