Governing Board

Andrea VISKI, PhD

Dr. Viski is the founder and director of the Strategic Trade Research Institute (STRI). She founded the Strategic Trade Review, a peer-reviewed journal dedicated to trade controls, in 2015, and has since served as its Editor-in-Chief. She is an Affiliated Expert at CRDF Global and a subject matter expert for Content Enablers. She is also an adjunct professor at the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University where she teaches a course on strategic trade controls and co-developed a Master’s certificate on strategic trade. Dr. Viski previously worked for Project Alpha at King’s College London, at the European Commission’s Joint Research Center, and at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). She had extensive experience providing expertise and capacity for research, training, and project implementation. Dr. Viski has published extensively in the areas of trade controls, nonproliferation, nuclear security, and international law. Dr. Viski speaks French, Italian, and Hungarian. Dr. Viski received his Ph.D. and LL.M from the European University Institute, her M.A from Georgetown University’s Institute for Law, Science, and Global Security, and her B.A from Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service.

Aaron ARNOLD, PhD

Aaron Arnold is currently a member of the United Nations Panel of Experts on DPRK. He is a research fellow with the Project on Managing the Atom at Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center. His current work focuses on trade controls for preventing WMD proliferation. Prior to his current appointment, he spent nine years as a non-proliferation and counter-proliferation subject matter expert at the U.S. Department of Defense and U.S. Justice Department, where he specialized in WMD counter-proliferation investigations and operations, with an emphasis on threat finance and sanctions evasion. Aaron holds a PhD and MPP in public policy and national security from George Mason University and a BA in international relations from Virginia Tech.

Richard T. CUPITT, PhD

Richard T. Cupitt is Senior Associate and Director of the Partnerships in Proliferation Prevention program at Stimson. His areas of expertise include WMD nonproliferation, export controls, and foreign policy. Prior to joining Stimson, he served as the Special Coordinator for U.N. Security Council resolution 1540 in the Office of Counterproliferation Initiatives at the U.S. State Department from 2012 through 2016. As such, he led U.S. government efforts to further implementation of the more than two hundred legally binding obligations and recommendations of the resolution, which aims to combat proliferation of WMD and their means of delivery, especially to non-state actors such as terrorists and criminal organizations. From 2005 to 2012, he worked as an Expert for the Committee established pursuant to U.N. Security Council resolution 1540 (2004), a subsidiary body of the U.N. Security Council, monitoring and facilitating implementation of the resolution in all U.N. Member States, along with building relationships with more than forty international organizations, coordinating assistance activities, and conducting outreach with industry and academia. Elected coordinator of the Experts from 2010-2012, his also led the work in several specialized areas including combating the financing of proliferation and export controls. From 2004 to 2008, Cupitt also held a position as Scholar-in-Residence at American University and worked as Special Adviser for International Cooperation for the U.S. Undersecretary of Commerce in the Bureau of Industry and Security from 2002-2004. From 1988 to 2002, Cupitt had various posts for the Center International Trade and Security (CITS) of the University of Georgia, including Associate Director, as well as acting as a visiting scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in 2000-2002. Cupitt also has held academic positions at Emory University and the University of North Texas. He has produced four books and more than 20 peer-reviewed articles on nonproliferation export controls, along with dozens of other security or trade-oriented publications. In addition, he has served as a consultant on projects for the U.S. State Department, several U.S. national commissions, U.S. national nuclear laboratories, and various international organizations.