Over the past several years, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has been working on a definition of “nuclear security culture” so that it can be used as a tool to improve the physical protection of nuclear materials and facilities. A 2001 IAEA report titled “Fundamental Principles of Physical Protection of Nuclear Materials and Nuclear Facilities” identified security culture as one of the twelve principles underlying fissile-material security. In February 2005, at their summit in Bratislava, President Bush and President Putin vowed to step up joint efforts to bolster nuclear security, pairing disciplined, well-trained, responsible custodians and protective forces with well-maintained security systems. In July 2005, a series of amendments to the Physical Protection Convention was approved elevating the status of security culture to that of a treaty obligation. Since that time, IAEA member states worked on a concept, definition and guidelines for developing and implementing a robust security culture at nuclear facilities worldwide.

The Nato Advanced Research Workshop “Nuclear Security Culture: From National Best Practices to International Standards,” which gathered in Moscow in the fall of 2005, brought together almost 100 experts from over 30 countries to discuss these issues and present their views with the hope to contribute to the IAEA's work and facilitate better nuclear security culture worldwide. During the two-day workshop the participants examined several analytical questions:

1. What properties of nuclear security culture are universally applicable across national and cultural boundaries? How can these properties be communicated to representatives from a wide variety of regional and national traditions?

2. How does nuclear security culture fit into a nation's overall professional culture? How can improvements to security culture be made to improve an organization's overall performance? How can leaders be persuaded to “buy into” security culture?

3. What differences and similarities are there between the following regions with regard to security culture: (a) the United States, the European Union, and Japan; (b) Russia, the Commonwealth of Independent States, and Central Europe; (c) China and East Asia; (d) South Asia; and (e) Latin America? What national variations are there?

4. How can various interested parties – nuclear managers, governments, international institutions – use the similarities among national and regional professional cultures to raise overall standards of security culture? How can they work around differences in national and regional culture?