Sandia National Laboratories

Albuquerque, NM 87185

(505) 284-5052

jnolsen @sandia.gov

The Cooperative Monitoring Center (CMC) at Sandia National Laboratories assists political and technical experts from around the world acquire the technology-based tools that they need for designing and implementing nonproliferation, regional security and environmental agreements. The CMC particularly emphasizes treaty verification technologies and their applications to a variety of security agreements.

John Olsen joined the CMC in 1995 and specializes in interactions with Northeast Asia. He has participated in China-US bilateral discussions and training in cooperation with the Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS) in Washington, Albuquerque, and Beijing. He has also conducted a training workshop in Shanghai for participants from China, India and Pakistan. His most recent work has concerned potential US-China technical cooperation in counter-terrorism. In a collaborative study with a researcher from Beijing, he identified a number of mutually useful options and presented these in Beijing and Washington.

John has prepared discussion modules on several maritime, economic and environmental measures that may be useful in the Taiwan Strait. In the last three years the CMC has conducted training workshops for Taiwan personnel in technologies that could support regional security and cooperation agreements. As a result, he has worked with Taiwanese Visiting Scholars to generate four papers on potential Cross-Strait maritime and naval confidence building measures that China and Taiwan may wish to consider. A follow-up workshop is planned for Albuquerque.

Olsen is currently participating also in implementing nuclear transparency measures in the nuclear industries of Northeast Asia through the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia-Pacific (CSCAP) process, which includes both China and Taiwan. He believes that common interests in safety, public acceptance and nonproliferation will help the regional nuclear industries act as an important factor for stability and peaceful growth. He is currently leading the technical side of the CSCAP effort to demonstrate transparency using existing safety and operational data. The China National Nuclear Corporation and China Atomic Energy Authority have been involved in this project for four years.

John previously conducted research in inertial confinement fusion using lasers and particle beams at Sandia. He has published on laser design, radiation shielding, intense particle beams and various diagnostic devices. His Ph.D. research was performed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in magnetic fusion, graduating in 1970 from Ohio State University.