This book is the outcome of the challenge created by the publishing of essays on the shift from safeguards to nuclear security, from a technical and political standpoint. The global sense of the challenge is what nuclear security summits have undertaken. The international political process is moving on in view of the conclusive summit that will take place in Washington next spring; although promising, from the viewpoint of training and education, the process is still taking its first steps. The problem posed by the risk of nuclear terrorism is still too recent compared to the historical problem of nuclear proliferation. The academy and the institutions involved in nuclear security need time to create educational and training programs on a global scale. The advanced training course financed by the NATO program Science for Peace and Security held in Rabat in December 2014 by the editors of this book was a small step taken in this direction.

The speeches given by the lecturers of the course have been collected in these pages to further encourage the development of a project that is even at an earlier stage compared to E&T; they are relevant to the scientific research on nuclear security, considered as an autonomous subject. As we write, the first issue of the only journal dedicated to nuclear security is in the works: the range of books and scientific articles on the subject is still very narrow, especially when compared to the much wider one dedicated to non-proliferation. Therefore, this collection of essays describes the two-fold project carried out by nuclear science and technology on the one hand, and politics and international history on the other.

The scholars who have contributed to making this book are among the most representative in this challenge, and they work from different perspectives to achieve a sustainable regime of nuclear security. We wish to thank them profusely for having contributed to the creation of this book. Many thanks to Valerio Cartocci, for his editorial work.

Matteo Gerlini and Abdelwahed Chetaine

November 2015