Security Working Group

Our security programs bring together retired generals, diplomats, and civilian security specialists to discuss regional security issues of common concern. Participants have found that these unofficial, track II meetings complement - and sometimes catalyze - official negotiations. By providing a safe forum for participants to explore matters of security, we aim to encourage fresh approaches to sensitive issues.

General Plenary Meetings
Security experts from a broad spectrum of Middle Eastern countries come together to identify collaborative and creative approaches to improving the security environment in the region. Some of these approaches include commissioning series of articles on a subject related to regional security to distribute widely in the regional media, or producing joint publications on similar subjects. Other projects have included the creation of working groups, workshops, and conferences to address areas of common concern.

Chemical and Biological Weapons
Since 1995, Arab, Iranian, Israeli, and Turkish specialists have been meeting to discuss regional efforts to reduce the threat of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons. Following September 11 and subsequent anthrax attacks, we launched two new projects to foster regional cooperation in dealing with dangers posed by unconventional terrorism. Through our Middle East Consortium on Infectious Disease Surveillance (MECIDS), Egyptian, Jordanian, Israeli, and Palestinian specialists are designing a regional disease monitoring network in an effort to strengthen national and international biological health systems. MECIDS members have come together with the acknowledgment that the most effective security against biological incidents, whether accidental or deliberate, is a comprehensive health system. We also convene the Chemical Risk Consortium (CRC), dedicated to bringing together regional specialists to research and discuss possibilities and methods for joint regional collaboration in response to chemical incidents. The consortium has published a book, "Common Ground on Chemical Risk: Case Studies from the Middle East."

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