David Albright

David Albright, ICAS Fellow, physicist, is President and Chairman of the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) in Washington, D.C. David directs the project work of ISIS, heads its fundraising efforts, and chairs its board of directors. In addition, he regularly publishes and conducts scientific research. David has written numerous assessments on secret nuclear weapons programs throughout the world.

David has published assessments in Science, Scientific American, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Arms Control Today, The Washington Post, Newsday, The New York Times, The Public Interest Report, and Forum for Applied Research and Public Policy. Research reports by him have been published by the Environmental Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. and Princeton University’s Center for Energy and Environmental Studies.

David has been cited often in the media and appeared frequently on television and radio. He has been cited regularly in the New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, Newsweek, Time, Washington Times, Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, London Sunday Times, Guardian, Die Zeit, Ashi Shimbun, Der Spiegel, Stern, Times of India and by Reuters, Associated Press, AFP and Bloomberg wire services. He has also appeared many times on CNN, FOX, MSNBC, ABC World News Tonight, NBC Nightly News, CBS Evening News, Newshour with Jim Lehrer, 60 Minutes, Dateline, Nightline and multiple National Public Radio shows.

David, in collaboration with Frans Berkhout, of Sussex University, and William Walker, of the University of St. Andrews, published World Inventory of Plutonium and Highly Enriched Uranium, 1992 (SIPRI and Oxford University Press). A second, greatly-expanded edition entitled Plutonium and Highly Enriched Uranium 1996: World Inventories, Capabilities and Policies was published in March 1997. He is also a co-editor and contributor to Challenges of Fissile Material Control and Solving the North Korean Nuclear Puzzle, published by ISIS Press in 1999 and 2000, respectively. In 2010, Free Press published his book Peddling Peril: How the Secret Nuclear Trade Arms America’s Enemies.

David cooperated actively with the IAEA Action Team from 1992 until 1997, focusing on analyses of Iraqi documents and past procurement activities. In June 1996, he was the first non-governmental inspector of the Iraqi nuclear program. On this inspection mission, he questioned members of Iraq’s former uranium enrichment programs about their statements in Iraq’s draft Full, Final, and Complete Declaration.

David received a 1992 Olive Branch Award for a series of articles he wrote, along with Mark Hibbs, on the Iraqi nuclear weapons program for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. He is also a Bulletin contributing editor and has been a guest editor of special editions of the magazine.

David has testified many times on nuclear issues before the U.S. Congress. He has spoken to many groups, technical workshops and conferences, briefed government decision- makers, and trained many government officials in non-proliferation policy making.

From 1990 to 2001, David was a member of the Health Advisory Panel appointed by Colorado Governor Roy Romer. The Panel, responsible to the state’s Health Department, oversees a historical assessment of the toxicological and radiological doses received by the population near the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons production site. On this panel, he oversaw the development of ‘source’ terms, which describe the type and amount of dangerous materials that left the plant during daily releases, accidents, or large-scale fires.

In 1996, David was appointed to the Department of Energy Openness Advisory Panel, which operates under the auspices of the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board. The panel is charged with reviewing the Department’s Openness policy, which was started in 1993, with the aim of lifting the veil of Cold War secrecy that has surrounded many of the DOE’s activities without jeopardizing national security.

Prior to founding ISIS, David worked as a Senior Staff Scientist at the Federation of American Scientists and as a member of the research staff of Princeton University’s Center for Energy and Environmental Studies. In the early 1980s, he taught physics at George Mason University in Virginia. David has served as a consultant or contractor to the Environmental Policy Institute, the Congressional Research Service, the International Task Force on Prevention of Nuclear Terrorism, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and the International Atomic Energy Agency.

David holds a Masters of Science in physics from Indiana University and a Masters of Science in mathematics from Wright State University. In addition to the Outstanding Alumni Award, he also received an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Wright State University in 2007.

2010 Fall SymposiumStatus of the North Korea's Nuclear Programes
Links for David Albright


This page last modified February 8,2011 jdb