Research Fellow:
Dr John R Walker.
John Walker worked in MCIS, on secondment from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), from January 2005 until April 2007.
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He took his undergraduate (1982 MA Honours (2:1) Politics and Modern History) and post-graduate degrees (PhD 1987, "British Attitudes to Nuclear Proliferation 1952-1982") at the University of Edinburgh. He was a tutor in Comparative European Politics at Edinburgh between 1983 and 1985.
Dr Walker has worked in the FCO Arms Control and Disarmament Research Unit (ACDRU) since March 1985. He currently focuses on Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) issues and arms control verification more generally.
Dr Walker has been closely involved in the UK's practice CWC and Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) challenge and other inspection programmes since their inception in 1988. He has taken part in almost fifty practice inspections at a wide range of defence and commercial facilities at home and abroad, including nuclear weapons related facilities. His current role in the annual programme is Co-Exercise Director. In previous exercises he has played the role of Chief Inspector.
Dr Walker was a member of the UK Delegation to the BWC Ad Hoc Group 1995 to 2001, where he latterly served as one of the Chairman's two Editorial Facilitators. He was a member of the UK delegation to the Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth BTWC Review Conferences. Dr Walker was also closely involved in the CWC Preparatory Commission Expert Groups on challenge inspection, inspection team composition and inspection planning 1993-1997. He also represents the UK at CTBTO Preparatory Commission Working Group B meetings on the drafting of the on-site inspection manual. Dr Walker is an ex-officio member of the UK CWC National Authority Advisory Committee.
He has also been involved in the design and teaching of OPCW inspector and National Authority personnel training courses. In his time in ACDRU Dr Walker has written internal histories based on classified FCO, Cabinet Office and MOD files on a wide range of arms control historical matters. He also chairs the periodic FCO-Harvard-Sussex Program CBW Historical seminars.
He has published widely on aspects
of the UK's practice challenge inspection programme in VERTIC Yearbooks.