Mr. Thomas Countryman, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, rank of Minister-Counselor, has been Assistant Secretary for International Security and Nonproliferation since September 2011. The ISN Bureau leads the U.S. effort to prevent the spread of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons, their related materials, and their delivery systems.
Mr. Countryman began his State Department career in 1982, serving as a consular and political officer in Belgrade, Yugoslavia from 1983 to 1985. From 1985 to 1988, he worked in the Department's Office of Eastern European and Yugoslav Affairs.
From 1988 to 1990, Mr. Countryman studied Arabic language and culture in the U.S. and Tunisia. During Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, he served as the Political-Military Officer at the American Embassy in Cairo, Egypt. From 1991 to 1993, he was the senior officer for reporting on political, security, and religious affairs within Egypt.
In 1993 and 1994, Mr. Countryman worked in the State Department's Office of Counter-Terrorism. From 1994-1997, he was responsible for advising Ambassador Albright on Middle East affairs at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, and served as liaison with the UN Special Commission investigating Iraq's weapons programs. In this position, he dealt not only with Iraq, but also with Libya, Sudan and Arab-Israeli issues.
From 1997 to 1998, Mr. Countryman served as Director for Near East and South Asian Affairs at the National Security Council, with responsibility for the region stretching from Morocco to Syria. As part of his position at the NSC, he served as the White House representative on Ambassador Dennis Ross' peace process team. In 1998-1999, he participated in the Senior Seminar, the federal government's most advanced professional development program for foreign affairs and national security officials.
From 1999 to 2001, Mr. Countryman was Director of the Office of South Central European Affairs (EUR/SCE) in the Department of State, where he focused on working with the democratic opposition in Serbia. From 2001 to 2005, he was the Minister-Counselor for Political Affairs at the American Embassy in Rome, Italy.
After a short assignment as Director of the Office of United Nations Political Affairs in the Department, he served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy in Athens, Greece from 2005 to 2008. For a five-month period in 2007, he served as the Chargé d'Affaires of the Embassy. In 2008-2009, he was the Foreign Policy Advisor to General James Conway, the Commandant of the US Marine Corps.
He served as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Political-Military Affairs in 2009-2010, and as Deputy Assistant Secretary for European Affairs (with responsibility for Balkan affairs) in 2010-2011.
The Department of State gave him the Superior Honor Award for each of his assignments at USUN, EUR/SCE, Rome, and Athens. He was awarded senior performance pay in 2006 and 2007, and received the Presidential Meritorious Service Citation for 2007.
Mr. Countryman graduated from Washington University in St. Louis (summa cum laude) with a degree in economics and political science, and studied at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. His foreign languages are Serbo-Croatian, Arabic, Italian, Greek, and German. He is a native of Tacoma, Washington. He is married and has two sons.
Degree in history, geography aggregation, Postgraduate Diploma (cities and societies)
Graduate of the Ecole Supérieure de Commerce de Lyon;
Alumnus of the École nationale d'administration, promotion "Valmy", 1998.
At the École nationale d'administration, 1996-1998;
Appointed as Secretary of Foreign Affairs, 1 April 1998;
Special Adviser to the Director of the abroad French community dept, 1998-2001;
Special Adviser to the Director of Political affairs, 2001-2003;
First Secretary at the Permanent Representation of France to the United Nations in New York, 2003-2007, in charge of the arms control and non-proliferation portfolio;
First Counselor in Athens, 2007-2009;
First Counselor in Kabul, 2010-2011;
Deputy Director of Strategic, Security and Disarmament Affairs, January 2012-August 2013.
Languages: Fluent English, Italian, German
Mr. Varjoranta assumed the post of Deputy Director General and Head of the Department of Safeguards on 1 October 2013. Prior to this, he was the Director General of the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority, STUK, in Finland. Between 2010-2012 Mr. Varjoranta served as a Director in the Nuclear Energy Department of the IAEA having previously worked as Division Manager in the International Science and Technology Centre in Moscow. Mr. Varjoranta has served as President of ESARDA, President of the European Nuclear Regulators Group (ENSREG) and as a member of SAGSI for seven years. He is a physicist by education (MSc and PhL) from Helsinki University.
Mr. Davis Hurt is currently Head of the Tokyo Regional Office of the International Atomic Energy Agency. The IAEA Tokyo Regional Office coordinates safeguard inspections and other safeguards activities in Japan, and serves as liaison between the IAEA and the Japanese government’s safeguards authorities.
Prior to his assignment to Tokyo in July 2011, Mr. Hurt was for five years the head of a section of inspectors responsible for safeguards implementation in 16 European countries. In earlier duties with IAEA, going back to 1997, he was section head for safeguards policy development.
Prior to joining the IAEA, Mr. Hurt was Assistant Technical Director of the U.S. Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board in Washington, DC. He was trained as a nuclear engineer, and has worked on nuclear safety and safeguards issues since 1977 in Washington, Vienna and Tokyo.
Mr. Christophe Xerri has been assigned as Nuclear Counsellor at the Embassy of France in Japan since December 1st, 2011.
After graduating from Ecole Centrale de Lyon (Engineering - 1984) and Salford University (UK – Master of Science - 1984) and Institut Supérieur des Affaires (MBA - 1988), Mr. Christophe Xerri started his career in a Japanese bank in Tokyo.
He then joined AREVA Group in 1991, where he got involved in the promotion of nuclear fuel recycling, in the implementation of the first return of reprocessing residues to Japan, then in investments in uranium mining and in innovation and technological developments (including joint programs with CEA).
In 2000, he moved to the field of International Relations and Non-Proliferation, acted as expert to the IAEA and chaired a European expert working group on Safeguards implementation. This position included interaction with the International Directorate of CEA and with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
From 2003 to 2007, he was appointed personal assistant to the CEO of AREVA for international affairs.
He moved to Tokyo in 2007 to join AREVA Japan as Managing Director - Marketing and Industrial Strategy. In this position, he was involved in developing relationship with MHI and in the creation of the MNF Joint-Venture. He was then seconded by AREVA to the position of Director and Senior Executive Vice President of Mitsubishi Nuclear Fuel (MNF), a joint-venture created in Japan in 2009 between AREVA, and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) in the field of nuclear fuel design and fabrication.
Mr. Robert Einhorn is a senior fellow with the Arms Control and Non-Proliferation Initiative and the Center for 21st Century Security and Intelligence, both housed within the Foreign Policy program at Brookings. Mr. Einhorn focuses on arms control (U.S.-Russia and multilateral), nonproliferation and regional security issues (including Iran, the greater Middle East, South Asia, and Northeast Asia), and U.S. nuclear weapons policies and programs.
Before coming to Brookings in May 2013, Mr. Einhorn served as the State Department special advisor for nonproliferation and arms control, a position created by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2009. In that capacity, he played a leading role in the formulation and execution of U.S. policy toward Iran's nuclear program, both with respect to sanctions and negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 countries. He also helped shape the Obama administration's overall approach to nonproliferation, supported nonproliferation goals through diplomatic contacts with China, Russia and key non-aligned countries and addressed nuclear security and strategic stability challenges in South Asia. He played a key role in the development of the 2010 Nuclear Posture Review and served as U.S. delegation head in negotiations with South Korea on a successor civil nuclear agreement.
Between 2001 and 2009, Mr. Einhorn was a senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, where he directed the CSIS Proliferation Prevention Program. Before coming to CSIS, he was assistant secretary of state for nonproliferation (1999-2001), deputy assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs (1992-1999), and a member of the State Department policy planning staff (1986-1992). Between 1972 and 1986, he held various positions at the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, including ACDA's representative to the strategic arms reduction talks with the Soviet Union. In 1984, he was an international affairs fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Mr. Einhorn has written extensively in the area of arms control and nonproliferation. He authored Negotiating from Strength: Leverage in U.S.-Soviet Arms Control Negotiations (1984), co-edited Protecting against the Spread of Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Weapons: An Action Agenda for the Global Partnership and The Nuclear Tipping Point: Why States Reconsider their Nuclear Choices, and published numerous articles in such journals as Survival, The National Interest, Foreign Policy, Arms Control Today, The Washington Quarterly, The Nonproliferation Review, and Yaderny Kontrol.
Mr. Einhorn holds a B.A. in government from Cornell University and a M.A. in public affairs and international relations from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University.
京都大学原子炉実験所教授。専門は、核燃料サイクル工学と関連するアクチニド化学。1953年、京都生まれ。1981年、アクチニド元素の放射化学研究により、東北大学工学博士を取得。1981年、動力炉・核燃料開発事業団（現、日本原子力研究開発機構）に入社し、東海再処理工場にて再処理技術開発に参加。1981年から1990年まで、PUREX再処理技術に関わる化学と工学の研究に従事。1991年から1995年まで、将来の核燃料サイクルの最適化に関わる研究に貢献。1996年、京都大学に移籍し、特に溶融塩中でのアクチニド元素の化学研究を開始。2013年8月、技術研究組合 国際廃炉研究開発機構の理事長に就任。
1980年名古屋大学工学研究科原子核工学専攻修士課程修了、同年動力炉・核燃料開発事業団に入社し、再処理回収ウラン転換試験に従事。1988年より企画部勤務後、1991年外務省国際連合局原子力課に出向し、IAEA保障措置、OECD/NEA関係業務を担当、その後1993〜1995年、在米国日本大使館科学班にて専門調査員として米国の核不拡散情勢の調査・分析に従事。帰国後、Puの国際管理、透明性向上など、核不拡散業務に従事した後、東京事務所次長、核不拡散科学技術センター次長を経て、2007年より3年間、ウィーン事務所長に就任。2010年帰国後、現在、核物質管理科学技術推進部（旧、核不拡散科学技術センター）の部長として核不拡散政策、技術開発、保障措置、核物質防護等、核不拡散・核物質管理業務を推進。
核燃料サイクル、放射性廃棄物管理、原子力と社会、核融合工学､核不拡散工学
Professor Il Soon Hwang, a nuclear energy specialist, with Ph. D. in Nuclear Materials Engineering from MIT, M.S. in Mechanical Science from Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology and B.S. in Nuclear Engineering from Seoul National University, has expertise in nuclear materials, nuclear plant integrity, nuclear waste transmutation and nuclear non-proliferation. He has led Korean implementation of IAEA Periodic Safety Review (PSR) and the development of the advanced nuclear waste partitioning and transmutation technology, known as PEACER-PyroGreen, while serving as the Director of Nuclear Transmutation Energy Research Center of Korea and as a member of the Korea National Academy of Engineering. He chairs or co-chairs IAEA Advanced Partitioning Expert Group, OECD-NEA Task Force on Lead-alloy Coolant Technology (LACANES), the International Workshop on Nuclear Pyroprocess (NUPYRO), the Forum on Climate Change and Energy Policy, the Nuclear Power Infrastructure Development Seminar (NUPID), the Summit of Honor on Atoms for Peace and Environment (SHAPE), an advisory committee for the Seoul Nuclear Security Summit 2012. He serves as the Vice President of the Korea Nuclear Policy Society, as a member of the Leadership Council of International Forum on Reactor Aging Management (IFRAM) and as a member of the editorial board of International Journal for Nuclear Energy Management as well as an advisory member for the Asia Pacific Leadership Network (APLN). He has been serving as international reviewer for national nuclear R&D programs of Japan, Germany, U.S.A. as well as Korea. Currently he is a member of legal organizations including the Korean Civic Legislation Committee, Korean Commercial Arbitration Board and the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards of the Korea Nuclear Safety & Security Commission. He was decorated with Cavaliere dell'Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana (Italian Knighthood Medal) by the Italian President for excellence in scientific collaboration.
He lives in Seoul with his wife and three daughters.
Professor Joonhong Ahn received his doctoral degrees from UC Berkeley (PhD, 1988) and University of Tokyo (D.Eng., 1989), and joined the faculty of UC Berkeley in 1995. His research focuses on performance assessment for advanced nuclear fuel cycles and geological disposal of radioactive wastes, including: (1) mathematical modeling and computational analyses for performance assessment of geological disposal of radioactive wastes, in which radiological risk and criticality safety are quantitatively evaluated as performance metrics, by particularly focusing on radionuclide transport through a geological medium and engineered barriers and long-term evolution of engineered-barrier materials, and (2) analysis of mass-flow in advanced nuclear fuel-cycle systems. These two are being combined to optimize the nuclear-power system from the viewpoint of risk minimization by exploring relationship between the fuel-cycle system parameters and geologic repository performance. He has also been active in the field of Science-Technology-Society interaction in the back-end of fuel cycle, particularly after the Fukushima accident. He led numerous joint research projects with institutions of Japan, South Korea, US, and IAEA.
In March 2012, he received the Outstanding Achievement Award from Division of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Environment, Atomic Energy Society of Japan, Tokyo, Japan, together with 6 other co-authors, for the book entitled "Engineering for Radioactive Waste Management" published in February 2011.
In June 2011, he was granted Minner Faculty Fellow in Engineering Ethics and Professional/Social Responsibility from College of Engineering, UC Berkeley.
In 2007, he became a fellow of School of Engineering, University of Tokyo.
旧動力炉・核燃料開発事業団（旧核燃料サイクル開発機構）にて20年にわたり再処理工場の分析所に勤務、同工場におけるIAEA 保障措置対応体制の確立を始め多くの保障措置技術開発、分析技術開発に携わった。またピューレックス再処理プロセスの安全性に係る基礎化学的研究にも従事。1986-1987年に英国UKAEA のハーウェル研究所およびドーンレイ原子力開発事業所に研究員として留学。東海再処理工場の分析課長を経て、1999年から7年間にわたりIAEAに勤務。IAEAでは保障措置分析所（サイバースドルフ）所長として核物質申告値検認のための分析並びに未申告活動の有無を検証するための環境サンプリングのための分析業務に従事した。その間、イラク、イラン、リビアなどの国々における未申告活動の疑惑事象の解明に深く関与した。2006年7月より日本原子力研究開発機構（JAEA）に勤務。現在、同機構の核物質管理科学技術推進部次長（研究主席）。東京大学大学院工学系研究科教授（原子力国際専攻委嘱）を兼任。工学博士（東京大学−放射線化学/核物質分析）。東京大学主催「国際保障学研究会」副主査。