Who determines how safe are your safeguards?? Is it an independent body which oversees your military installations or is this all hearsay based on govt. reports?
The 2014 Nuclear Threat Initiative Nuclear Materials Security Index is the second edition of a unique public assessment of nuclear materials security conditions around the world. Developed with the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), the NTI Index was created to assess the security of nuclear materials around the world and to encourage governments to take actions and provide assurances about the security of the world’s deadliest materials. It has sparked international discussions about priorities required to strengthen security.
The NTI Index draws on NTI’s nuclear expertise, the EIU’s experience in constructing indices, and the reach of the EIU’s global network of hundreds of analysts and contributors. NTI—together with an international panel of nuclear security experts and a number of technical advisors—developed the framework and priorities that define effective nuclear materials security conditions. The EIU was responsible for developing the analytic model and gathering the data.
The NTI Index assesses the contributions of 25 states with one kilogram or more of weapons-usable nuclear materials toward improved global nuclear materials security conditions. It assesses states in five categories: (a) Quantities and Sites, (b) Security and Control Measures, (c) Global Norms, (d) Domestic Commitments and Capacity, and (e) Risk Environment. An additional 151 states, with less than one kilogram of weapons-usable nuclear materials or none at all, are assessed on the final three of the categories. The NTI Index is presented in three ways:
- This website with high-level results
- The print report, which contains NTI observations and recommendations, a complete discussion of the EIU methodology, selected data, and country profiles
- A downloadable version of the 2014 NTI Index, which is available through the website and shows detailed results and data and provides extended interactive features in an Excel format.
NTI is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization with a mission to strengthen global security by reducing the risk of use and preventing the spread of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons. Founded in 2001 by former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn and CNN founder Ted Turner, NTI is guided by an international board of directors.
The
EIU is the business information arm of The Economist Group, publisher of
The Economist. Through a global network of hundreds of analysts and contributors, the EIU continuously assesses and forecasts political, economic, and business conditions in more than 200 countries. As the world’s leading provider of country intelligence, the EIU helps executives, governments, and institutions by providing timely, reliable, and impartial analysis.
In developing the NTI Index, the EIU and NTI convened highly respected nuclear materials security experts from around the world. This group included experts who were from nuclear- and non-nuclear-weapon states and from developed and developing nations and who have a broad range of expertise. The panel was changed and slightly expanded from the 2012 NTI Index and included experts from Argentina, Australia, China, France, India, Japan, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Russia, South Africa, Sweden, the United States, and Vietnam, one of whom is a representative from the World Institute for Nuclear Security (WINS) and one of whom is a former International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) official.
The panel advised NTI and the EIU on the selection of indicators and their relative importance. Panel members were instrumental in considering options (for example, new or modified indicators) for strengthening the NTI Index, many of which were subsequently incorporated into this edition. Input from the panel helps to ensure that the NTI Index has an international point of view and reflects the ongoing international discussion on nuclear security priorities.
Panel members do not represent their country’s interests or score individual countries. Instead, they play an advisory role in their personal, not professional, capacities. Participation in the panel does not imply endorsement of every aspect of the NTI Index or its findings and recommendations. On the contrary, panel meetings demonstrated a range of views and the need for a continuing dialogue on priorities.
