Gary Milhollin
Encyclopedia
Gary Milhollin is the founder and executive director of the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control
, a non-profit organization dedicated to stemming the spread of nuclear
and other weapons of mass destruction. Milhollin and the Wisconsin Project are best known for digging up the details of dangerous nuclear deals and publishing them in the media. Their purpose has been to discourage such deals through public embarrassment.
Milhollin’s work has been covered by a number of media profiles. He has been characterized as an “arms trade sleuth,” a “nuke tracker,” a “self-appointed watchdog,” a “crusader,” and a “private citizen turned private eye.” He has also been criticized for taking a “blunt instrument approach” and for holding “hawkish views on U.S. foreign policy.”
One of Milhollin’s earliest achievements came in 1986, when he revealed that Norway
, because of a secret export of heavy water
to Israel
, had the right to inspect Israel’s Dimona reactor
, where the heavy water had been used to produce plutonium
, a nuclear weapon fuel. Milhollin’s study on this secret export, together with his op-eds in the Norwegian and American press, forced Israel to return half of the heavy water to Norway and brought Norway to abandon its nuclear export business.
In the 1990s Milhollin and the Wisconsin Project continued to advocate for stronger controls on dangerous exports. In July 1990, Milhollin and the Project revealed in The Washington Post
that the Western countries were dropping export controls on items that Iraq
was using to build nuclear weapons and missiles. The revelations triggered steps by the United States and its allies to recontrol many of the items.
Similar revelations continued throughout the 1990s. In 1995, an article in The New York Times
revealed that China
was the source of poison gas
ingredients being smuggled to Iran
and that the United States planned to free for export supercomputer
s that the Pentagon
was using to develop the next generation of American weapons. In 1996, another article in The New York Times warned that the United States was about to allow the export of American supercomputers that Russia
would use to design nuclear warheads—a media revelation that blocked the sale. In 1997, Milhollin published the fact that a Russian nuclear weapon laboratory had managed to import American supercomputers without the required export license which led Congress to strengthen controls on supercomputer exports. And in 1998, after India
and Pakistan
tested nuclear weapons in May of that year, the U.S. government used data that Milhollin and the Project had compiled to sanction 63 organizations linked to those countries’ nuclear and missile programs.
In 2000, Milhollin and the Wisconsin Project launched a program to improve export controls in the former Soviet Union
and Eastern Europe
. With sponsorship from the Departments of State
and Defense
, Milhollin and the Wisconsin Project have given export control training to several hundred officials from some 30 countries.
Milhollin has continued his activism through the present. In 2006, when a company from Dubai
sought permission to manage an American port, Milhollin gave Congress information showing that Dubai and other ports in the United Arab Emirates
had long been transshipment points for the nuclear black market The information helped block the company’s application. In 2007, Milhollin and the Project supplied information to the United Nations
, the United States and the European Union
that led to a freeze on the assets of several Iranian organizations linked to nuclear and missile work. In 2009, Milhollin helped the New York County District Attorney
’s Office investigate Chinese shipments of nuclear and missile items to Iran. He testified before a grand jury
in New York City
that later indicted the Chinese company that made the sales. His most recent publications were in 2010, when he supplied two commentaries to the Atlantic. In one he argued that Iran was making steady progress toward being able to build nuclear weapons, and in the other he argued that an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear sites probably would not succeed.
The Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control, which Milhollin founded in 1986, publishes the Iran Watch web site, an online clearinghouse for articles and analysis about Iran’s nuclear and missile programs. It also publishes the Risk Report, a subscription database that governments and private companies use to screen business transactions and verify the legitimacy of foreign buyers. Previously, the Wisconsin Project published Iraq Watch, a web site that tracked Saddam Hussein’s nuclear, chemical and missile programs.
Milhollin served on the law faculty at the University of Wisconsin from 1976 to 1998, where he now holds the title of Emeritus Professor. He has written articles for publications such as The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, The New Yorker
, Foreign Policy, and Commentary
, has testified frequently before Congressional committees, and has been quoted widely in the international press. His articles and testimony are concerned with topics such as the control of dangerous exports, U.S. policy toward Iran, and Chinese weapon transfers. A list of his publications and testimony can be found on the Wisconsin Project website.
While in his teaching position, Milhollin gave courses on nuclear arms proliferation at the University of Wisconsin and as a visiting professor at Princeton University
. For over a decade he was also an Administrative Judge, part time, at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
, where he presided over hearings following the accident at Three Mile Island
. Before entering teaching, he practiced international corporate law in New York and Paris.
Milhollin was born in Indiana
, where he received a degree in mechanical engineering from Purdue University
. He received his J.D.
from Georgetown University
in 1965.
Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control
The Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control is a non-profit, non-partisan organization established to curb the proliferation of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction through research and advocacy...
, a non-profit organization dedicated to stemming the spread of nuclear
Nuclear weapon
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. Both reactions release vast quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter. The first fission bomb test released the same amount...
and other weapons of mass destruction. Milhollin and the Wisconsin Project are best known for digging up the details of dangerous nuclear deals and publishing them in the media. Their purpose has been to discourage such deals through public embarrassment.
Milhollin’s work has been covered by a number of media profiles. He has been characterized as an “arms trade sleuth,” a “nuke tracker,” a “self-appointed watchdog,” a “crusader,” and a “private citizen turned private eye.” He has also been criticized for taking a “blunt instrument approach” and for holding “hawkish views on U.S. foreign policy.”
One of Milhollin’s earliest achievements came in 1986, when he revealed that Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, because of a secret export of heavy water
Heavy water
Heavy water is water highly enriched in the hydrogen isotope deuterium; e.g., heavy water used in CANDU reactors is 99.75% enriched by hydrogen atom-fraction...
to Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, had the right to inspect Israel’s Dimona reactor
Negev Nuclear Research Center
The Negev Nuclear Research Center is an Israeli nuclear installation located in the Negev desert, about thirteen kilometers to the south-east of the city of Dimona. The purpose of Dimona is widely assumed to be the manufacturing of nuclear weapons, and the majority of defense experts have...
, where the heavy water had been used to produce plutonium
Plutonium
Plutonium is a transuranic radioactive chemical element with the chemical symbol Pu and atomic number 94. It is an actinide metal of silvery-gray appearance that tarnishes when exposed to air, forming a dull coating when oxidized. The element normally exhibits six allotropes and four oxidation...
, a nuclear weapon fuel. Milhollin’s study on this secret export, together with his op-eds in the Norwegian and American press, forced Israel to return half of the heavy water to Norway and brought Norway to abandon its nuclear export business.
In the 1990s Milhollin and the Wisconsin Project continued to advocate for stronger controls on dangerous exports. In July 1990, Milhollin and the Project revealed in The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
that the Western countries were dropping export controls on items that Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
was using to build nuclear weapons and missiles. The revelations triggered steps by the United States and its allies to recontrol many of the items.
Similar revelations continued throughout the 1990s. In 1995, an article in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
revealed that China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
was the source of poison gas
Chemical warfare
Chemical warfare involves using the toxic properties of chemical substances as weapons. This type of warfare is distinct from Nuclear warfare and Biological warfare, which together make up NBC, the military acronym for Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical...
ingredients being smuggled to Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
and that the United States planned to free for export supercomputer
Supercomputer
A supercomputer is a computer at the frontline of current processing capacity, particularly speed of calculation.Supercomputers are used for highly calculation-intensive tasks such as problems including quantum physics, weather forecasting, climate research, molecular modeling A supercomputer is a...
s that the Pentagon
The Pentagon
The Pentagon is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, located in Arlington County, Virginia. As a symbol of the U.S. military, "the Pentagon" is often used metonymically to refer to the Department of Defense rather than the building itself.Designed by the American architect...
was using to develop the next generation of American weapons. In 1996, another article in The New York Times warned that the United States was about to allow the export of American supercomputers that Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
would use to design nuclear warheads—a media revelation that blocked the sale. In 1997, Milhollin published the fact that a Russian nuclear weapon laboratory had managed to import American supercomputers without the required export license which led Congress to strengthen controls on supercomputer exports. And in 1998, after India
Pokhran-II
Pokharan-II refers to test explosions of five nuclear devices, three on 11 May and two on 13 May 1998, conducted by India at the Pokhran test range. These nuclear tests resulted in a variety of sanctions against India by a number of major states....
and Pakistan
Chagai-I
The Chagai-I was a codename referring to the five underground nuclear tests conducted by Pakistan at 15:15hrs in 28th May of 1998. It was named Chagai-I, as the tests were conducted in the Chagai District...
tested nuclear weapons in May of that year, the U.S. government used data that Milhollin and the Project had compiled to sanction 63 organizations linked to those countries’ nuclear and missile programs.
In 2000, Milhollin and the Wisconsin Project launched a program to improve export controls in the former Soviet Union
Post-Soviet states
The post-Soviet states, also commonly known as the Former Soviet Union or former Soviet republics, are the 15 independent states that split off from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in its dissolution in December 1991...
and Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
. With sponsorship from the Departments of State
United States Department of State
The United States Department of State , is the United States federal executive department responsible for international relations of the United States, equivalent to the foreign ministries of other countries...
and Defense
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
, Milhollin and the Wisconsin Project have given export control training to several hundred officials from some 30 countries.
Milhollin has continued his activism through the present. In 2006, when a company from Dubai
Dubai
Dubai is a city and emirate in the United Arab Emirates . The emirate is located south of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula and has the largest population with the second-largest land territory by area of all the emirates, after Abu Dhabi...
sought permission to manage an American port, Milhollin gave Congress information showing that Dubai and other ports in the United Arab Emirates
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates, abbreviated as the UAE, or shortened to "the Emirates", is a state situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman, and Saudi Arabia, and sharing sea borders with Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Iran.The UAE is a...
had long been transshipment points for the nuclear black market The information helped block the company’s application. In 2007, Milhollin and the Project supplied information to the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
, the United States and the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
that led to a freeze on the assets of several Iranian organizations linked to nuclear and missile work. In 2009, Milhollin helped the New York County District Attorney
New York County District Attorney
The New York County District Attorney is the elected district attorney for New York County , New York. The office is responsible for the prosecution of violations of New York state laws....
’s Office investigate Chinese shipments of nuclear and missile items to Iran. He testified before a grand jury
Grand jury
A grand jury is a type of jury that determines whether a criminal indictment will issue. Currently, only the United States retains grand juries, although some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most other jurisdictions employ some other type of preliminary hearing...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
that later indicted the Chinese company that made the sales. His most recent publications were in 2010, when he supplied two commentaries to the Atlantic. In one he argued that Iran was making steady progress toward being able to build nuclear weapons, and in the other he argued that an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear sites probably would not succeed.
The Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control, which Milhollin founded in 1986, publishes the Iran Watch web site, an online clearinghouse for articles and analysis about Iran’s nuclear and missile programs. It also publishes the Risk Report, a subscription database that governments and private companies use to screen business transactions and verify the legitimacy of foreign buyers. Previously, the Wisconsin Project published Iraq Watch, a web site that tracked Saddam Hussein’s nuclear, chemical and missile programs.
Milhollin served on the law faculty at the University of Wisconsin from 1976 to 1998, where he now holds the title of Emeritus Professor. He has written articles for publications such as The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
, Foreign Policy, and Commentary
Commentary (magazine)
Commentary is a monthly American magazine on politics, Judaism, social and cultural issues. It was founded by the American Jewish Committee in 1945. By 1960 its editor was Norman Podhoretz, a liberal at the time who moved sharply to the right in the 1970s and 1980s becoming a strong voice for the...
, has testified frequently before Congressional committees, and has been quoted widely in the international press. His articles and testimony are concerned with topics such as the control of dangerous exports, U.S. policy toward Iran, and Chinese weapon transfers. A list of his publications and testimony can be found on the Wisconsin Project website.
While in his teaching position, Milhollin gave courses on nuclear arms proliferation at the University of Wisconsin and as a visiting professor at Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
. For over a decade he was also an Administrative Judge, part time, at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Nuclear Regulatory Commission
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is an independent agency of the United States government that was established by the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 from the United States Atomic Energy Commission, and was first opened January 19, 1975...
, where he presided over hearings following the accident at Three Mile Island
Three Mile Island accident
The Three Mile Island accident was a core meltdown in Unit 2 of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania near Harrisburg, United States in 1979....
. Before entering teaching, he practiced international corporate law in New York and Paris.
Milhollin was born in Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
, where he received a degree in mechanical engineering from Purdue University
Purdue University
Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S., is the flagship university of the six-campus Purdue University system. Purdue was founded on May 6, 1869, as a land-grant university when the Indiana General Assembly, taking advantage of the Morrill Act, accepted a donation of land and...
. He received his J.D.
Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...
from Georgetown University
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...
in 1965.