U.N. Security Council Resolution 1540: Taking Stock

More than two years have passed since the United Nations (U.N.) Security Council unanimously passed Resolution 1540. This seminal measure requires all U.N. Member States to enact and enforce “effective measures to establish domestic controls to prevent the proliferation of nuclear, chemical, biological weapons and their means of delivery.” Has this Resolution been successful? Did the 1540 Committee established by the Resolution fulfill its mandate? What does the future hold for Resolution 1540? Will it become an integral part of the web of nonproliferation treaties and regimes or will it recede into history as a well-meaning but unfulfilled attempt to prevent proliferation? These questions are timely and important to the nuclear materials management community and a discourse on their answers is needed.