NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) and the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) are pleased to announce the launch of a major joint non-governmental initiative—UANI-ISD—dedicated to combating the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran with a view to preventing international conflict. The UANI-ISD Initiative will collaborate on research, education, policy, and action initiatives in Europe and beyond.
By partnering together now, UANI and ISD combine the knowledge and experience of more than 30 outstanding leaders from North America and Europe with significant expertise in the areas of foreign policy and nuclear non-proliferation. UANI and ISD’s combined expertise and capabilities will strengthen efforts to highlight the dangers of a nuclear-armed Iran throughout the U.S. and Europe. The partnership will also greatly expand and enhance efforts at European grassroots, legislative, and regulatory activism.
Ambassador Kristen Silverberg, former U.S. Ambassador to the European Union and current member of UANI’s Advisory Board, will serve as UANI-ISD President. Dr August Hanning, former State Secretary in the Federal Interior Ministry of the Federal Republic of Germany in Berlin and former President of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) of Germany, has accepted the position of Senior Advisor to the Initiative. Ambassador Silverberg and Dr. Hanning will be joined by eight extraordinary individuals with extensive backgrounds in European government and security.
Said Ambassador Silverberg and Dr Hanning:
This partnership will allow our organizations to combine resources, exchange ideas, and work together on important campaigns in both Europe and the States. Iran must understand that showing up at negotiations is not a sufficient step to end its international isolation. Now, more than ever, concerted efforts are necessary to ensure that the Iranian regime changes course, and takes concrete measures to rebuild international confidence.
Since 2006 the UN, the EU as well as individual countries have passed a series of sanctions against Iran to pressure the Iranian leadership into addressing international concerns over its nuclear activities. The effects of these sanctions on the Iranian economy have played no small part in getting the regime back to the negotiating table. However, while the latest negotiations between the P5+1 and Iran in Istanbul on the April 14 were portrayed as positive by all parties, they have not as yet led to concrete results. It is therefore vital that the international community sustains pressure on Iran at this moment.
The UANI-ISD Initiative will seek to enhance and bolster compliance with the international sanctions regime. It will also raise awareness of the Iranian regime’s systemic abuse of its citizens’ human rights and its sponsorship of international terrorism.
Said UANI Chief Executive Officer, Ambassador Mark D. Wallace:
We are honoured to launch this partnership with ISD. ISD’s efforts to develop strategic responses to major international challenges have made it one of Europe’s most highly respected independent think tanks. As such, partnering with ISD will enable UANI to enhance and expand our European activities as we continue the global campaign to economically isolate the dangerous Iranian regime through legislative and regulatory action.
Added ISD Executive Director, Ms. Sasha Havlicek:
We are delighted to collaborate and partner with UANI—the leading U.S. advocacy group working to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. Drawing upon UANI’s Iran-focused campaigns and expertise, ISD will undertake civil society, policy and legislative initiatives that seek to compel the Iranian regime to refrain from building nuclear weapons and end its support for terrorism and brutal human rights violations, while expanding ISD’s reach into the U.S. foreign policy sector.
Ambassador Wallace will testify on behalf of UANI before the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs today, calling for the most robust sanctions against Iran in history through an effective economic blockade of Iran. ISD will host a contemporaneous media day in London to emphasize these discussions and highlight the aims of the UANI-ISD Initiative.
The Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), based in London, is an independent think tank that works closely with leaders in government, business, media, and academia to develop multi-country responses to the major security and socio-economic challenges of our time and enhance Europe’s capacity to act effectively in the global arena. ISD’s activities seek to foster leadership and stability across Europe and its wider neighbourhood, actively bridging inter-communal, religious, socio-economic, and political divides.
United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) is a not-for-profit, non-partisan grassroots advocacy group based in New York City that was founded by Ambassadors Richard Holbrooke, Dennis Ross, Mark D. Wallace, and Jim Woolsey in 2008. UANI's unprecedented success in pressuring multinational corporations to cease business in Iran has alerted the business community of the serious financial and reputational risks of doing business with the Iranian regime. UANI also works with lawmakers to pass tougher sanctions legislation, and has led grassroots campaigns to highlight the danger posed by the Iranian regime.
Ambassador Kristen Silverberg is the COO of Vorbeck Materials, a nanotechnology company in Maryland. She served as U.S. Ambassador to the European Union in 2008 and 2009. From 2005 to 2008, she served as Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs. She previously held a number of positions in the White House, including Deputy Assistant to the President and Advisor to the Chief of Staff. In 2003, she served as Senior Advisor to Ambassador L. Paul Bremer in Baghdad, Iraq. Ambassador Silverberg formerly practiced law at Williams and Connolly, LLP in Washington, D.C. She was a law clerk to Justice Clarence Thomas of the U.S. Supreme Court and Judge David Sentelle of the U.S. Court of Appeals. She graduated from Harvard College and the University of Texas School of Law. She has been selected by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader of 2009. She received the Secretary of Defense Award for Outstanding Public Service.
Dr August Hanning served as State Secretary in the Federal Interior Ministry of the Federal Republic of Germany in Berlin from 2005 to 2009, and President of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) from 1998 to 2005. Prior to that, he served as President of the German Secret Service, the Bundesnachtrichtendienst. Dr Hanning studied law in Münster (Westphalia) and Freiburg (Breisgau) in 1966. After obtaining his degree he joined the fiscal authority of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. A year later, he made a career switch to the Federal Ministry of the Interior. In 1986 Dr Hanning became a top diplomat and was assigned Head of the Division at the Permanent Mission of the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) to the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) in Berlin. There, he was responsible for diplomatic engagements between the two sides. In 1990 he continued his career at the Federal Chancellery and became Head of the Division. In 1994 he became team leader, and in 1996 Director-General. During his function of Director-General, Dr Hanning was responsible for the coordination of the federal intelligence services of Germany.
The following individuals are also joining the UANI-ISD initiative:
Sir Richard Dearlove is currently the Master of Pembroke College Cambridge. He served as Chief (known as ‘C’) of the British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) from August 1999 until his retirement in July 2004. For the preceding five years he was Director of Operations and, from 1998, Assistant Chief. As Director of Finance, Administration and Personnel he also oversaw the move of SIS into its Headquarter Building at Vauxhall Cross in 1994. He is a career intelligence officer of thirty-eight years standing and has served in Nairobi, Prague, Paris, Geneva and Washington as well as in a number of key London-based posts. He is a trustee of Kent School, Connecticut, Honorary Fellow of Queens’ College Cambridge, Senior Adviser to several international companies and Chairman of Ascot Underwriting. He is married to Rosalind, Lady Dearlove. They have two sons and a daughter.
Ana Palacio, a lawyer by profession, was recently appointed by the Prime Minister of Spain to serve as a member of the Consejo de Estado of Spain. Ana Palacio is the first woman to serve as the Foreign Affairs Minister of Spain. As a Member of the Spanish Cortes, she chaired the Joint Committee on the European Union in both houses of the Parliament. Ana Palacio has served as Senior Vice President and General Counsel of the World Bank Group and as Executive Committee member and Senior Vice President for International Affairs of AREVA. As a Member of the European Parliament, she has chaired the Legal Affairs and Internal Market Committee, the Justice and Home Affairs Committee, and the Conference of Committee Chairs. She is a member of the boards of different companies, think tanks and public institutions. In 2011, she was appointed Senior Fellow and Lecturer at Yale University’s Jackson Institute for Global Affairs.
Baroness Pauline Neville-Jones is the former UK Minister for Security. She was educated at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, where she read Modern History. She was a Harkness Fellow of the Commonwealth Fund in the US from 1961 to 1963. From 1963-1996 Pauline was a career diplomat during which time she served in British Missions in Rhodesia, Singapore, Washington and Bonn. From 1991 to 1994 she was Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet and Head of the Defence and Overseas Secretariat in the Cabinet Office. Between 1993 and 1994 she was Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee. From 1994 until her retirement, she was Political Director in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, in which capacity she led the British delegation to the Dayton negotiations on Bosnian peace. From 1996 to 1998 she was Managing Director for NatWest Markets and Chairman of NatWest Markets France. She was Vice Chairman of Hawkpoint partners Ltd., then the corporate advisory arm of NatWest Bank plc, from 1998 to 2000. She was Chairman of Qinetiq Group PLC from 2002-2005. In 2006, she was appointed by David Cameron to head the Conservative Party’s National and International Security Policy Group. She took the title Baroness Neville-Jones of Hutton Roof on entry into the House of Lords in October 2007. She was appointed Minister for Security and Counterterrorism and a Privy Councillor in May 2010. She stepped down from her Ministerial responsibilities in May 2011 and is now the Prime Minister’s special representative to business on cyber security. Pauline Neville-Jones is an Honorary Fellow of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford and Doctor of London University, City University and the Open University. She was made a companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George in 1987 and a Dame Commander in 1996. She is a Freeman of the City of London and a Chevalier of the Legion d’Honneur.
Wolfgang Schüssel served as Austrian chancellor from 2000-2007. In 1989, Dr. Schüssel was appointed minister for economic affairs in the coalition government under Chancellor Franz Vranitzky. On April 22, 1995, he became his party’s national leader. He also became vice-chancellor and foreign minister. Following his university studies in economics and law, for which he received a doctorate in law in 1968, he began his professional and political career in the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP). From 1975 to 1991, he was secretary general of the Austrian Business Federation, and from 1979 to 1989 he was a member in the National Council. He has been a member of the Board of Trustees of the Bertelsmann Foundation since April 2007.
Ambassador Antonio Puri Purini was Italian Ambassador to Germany from 2005 to 2009 and diplomatic advisor to the President of the Italian Republic, Carlo Azeglio Campi, from 1999 to 2005. He organized the Venice Economic Summit in 1987. As Director of Energy, Environment and Technological Cooperation at the Ministry for Foreign affairs, between 1990 and 1995 he contributed to developing a new political approach in the cooperation with Eastern Europe, and the Mediterranean basin. In 1994 he chaired the G7 Nuclear Safety Working Group and was in charge of the G7 report on nuclear safety and energy policy in the former Soviet Union. In the same year he organized Italy’s participation in the first G7 summit on the Global Information Society in Brussels. He was Vice-Chairman of the Governing Board of the International Energy Agency in Paris until he was appointed, in June 1995, to the Italian Embassy in Washington D.C. as Deputy Head of Mission. He then served as Permanent Representative of Italy to the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, in 1998. Ambassador Puri Purini is a member of Aspen Institute Italia, of the Board of the Institute of International Affairs in Rome, of the European Advisory Board of the Deutsche Bank. He is also an editorialist for the Corriere della Sera. He has been awarded many honours, amongst which: Knight Grand Cross in the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, Grand Cross in the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, Knight of the Grand Cross in the Royal Victorian Order, Commandeur de la Légion d’Honneur. Antonio Puri Purini was born in Athens on 22 May 1942. He graduated in political sciences and joined the Diplomatic service in 1965. He is married to Rosanna Donà dalle Rose and has four children.
Lord Charles Guthrie joined the Welsh Guards in 1959 and in the 60s served with them and the SAS in the United Kingdom, Germany, Libya, The Middle East, Malaysia and East Africa. He spent 1972 as a student at the Army Staff College and then held a number of appointments in Whitehall and with his Regiment in London, Northern Ireland and Cyprus. From 1977 to 1980 he commanded the Welsh Guards in Berlin and Northern Ireland. In 1980 he served briefly in the South Pacific and as the Commander British Forces, New Hebrides, recaptured the island of Espirito Santo, which had been seized by insurgents. Apart from holding a number of senior staff appointments, he commanded an Armoured Brigade, an Infantry Division, 1st British Corps, the British Army of the Rhine, and the Northern Army Group before becoming Chief of the General Staff (Head of the Army in 1994). From 1997 to 2001 he was Chief of the Defence Staff and the Principal Military Adviser to two Prime Ministers and three Secretaries of State for Defence. For ten years he served as Colonel Commandant of the Intelligence Corps, was Colonel Commandant of the SAS for eleven years, and is currently Colonel of The Life Guards, Gold Stick to The Queen. He retired from the Army in February 2001. He was a director of N M Rothschild & Sons Limited for ten years, and is now a non-executive director of Petropavlovsk PLC, Gulf Keystone Petroleum, Colt Defense LLC, and Advanced Interactive Systems Inc. In addition he is a Council Member and Executive Committee Member of The International Institute of Strategic Studies, a Visiting Professor and Honorary Fellow of King's College London, and Chairman of the Trustees of The Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives. He is President of Action Medical Research, The Federation of London Youth Clubs, and Chairman of the Hospital of Saint John and Saint Elizabeth.
Lord Stanley Kalms built the Dixons Group into one of Europe’s leading electronic retailers with 40,000 employees. He was awarded a Life Peerage in June 2004. He is Chairman of the Strategy Committee of the Henry Jackson Society. He funded several business ethics programmes, including a Chair in Business Ethics at the London Business School. Lord Kalms has also served as Chairman, King’s College Healthcare NHS Trust; non-executive Director of British Gas plc; Former Governor of NIESR; Founding Director of Business for Sterling; Founder and sponsor of the Dixons Bradford City Academy. He was also the Treasurer of the Conservative Party (2001-2003).
Jonathan Powell was the principal UK negotiator on Northern Ireland from 1997 to 2007, and was instrumental in bringing about a lasting peace in that troubled province after centuries of conflict. He played a key role in the formulation of the Blair government's foreign policy and political strategies. Before joining the office of Tony Blair, Jonathan was a British diplomat for sixteen years and played a central role in the negotiations with China on the return of Hong Kong, the CDE arms control negotiations in Stockholm, the CSCE human rights negotiations with the Soviet Union in Vienna, the 'two plus four' negotiations on German unification and the G7 summits from 1989-91. He was a political officer at the British Embassy in Washington in 1991, where he followed the Clinton presidential campaign and became close to President Clinton and his staff, whom he introduced to Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. Jonathan started his career as a journalist with the BBC and Granada TV, after studying at the University of Oxford and the University of Pennsylvania.