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By Barbara L. Micale

Bruce Lawlor

NATIONAL CAPITAL REGION, October 8, 2009 -- Bruce Lawlor, director of the Virginia Tech Center for Technology, Security, and Policy recently led an instructional session on developing more effective methods to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction throughout the Black Sea region at the second Regional Information Exchange Network Workshop in Kiev, Ukraine.

The U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) sponsored the event, designed to examine existing mechanisms for the exchange of information between countries and generate recommendations on how to capitalize on opportunities for more effective cooperation.

Attending the workshop were national security experts from the U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Department of State, NATO, the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency, INTERPOL, and their counterparts from nine nations in the Black Sea region: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Turkey, and Ukraine.

Drawing upon his ongoing work in the Black Sea region and his extensive experience in national security policy, Lawlor, a retired U.S. Army major general, led a session that explored the “Counter-Smuggling Network Concept” as a case study on intergovernmental collaboration to thwart modern cross-border criminal networks.

In addition to his role as director of the Center for Technology, Security, and Policy, Lawlor is also professor of practice in Virginia Tech’s Center for Public Administration and Policy, part of the university’s expansive research and instructional presence in the National Capital Region.

Lawlor was recently quoted in a Richmond Time-Dispatch article: “Law-enforcement agencies share intelligence in new center.”

Read related Virginia Tech News stories:

• "Center for Technology, Security, and Policy receives grant to fund study on smuggling in Black Sea region
• “Center for Technology, Security, and Policy names former chief of staff for U.S. Department of Homeland Security as director”

Contact Barbara L. Micale at blmicale@vt.edu or (703) 518-2714.

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