Areas of Research

• Nuclear Non-Proliferation
• IAEA Safeguards
• The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons
• Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zones

Background

Laura Rockwood re-joined the VCDNP in August 2022 as a Non-Resident Senior Fellow. Ms. Rockwood has over 35 years of experience in non-proliferation and international safeguards and has published extensively on safeguards and non-proliferation.

She retired from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in November 2013 as the Section Head for Non-Proliferation and Policy Making in the Office of Legal Affairs after 28 years of service. During her employment with the IAEA, she was the senior legal advisor on all aspects of the negotiation, interpretation, and implementation of IAEA safeguards, and was the principal author of the document that became the Model Additional Protocol. She participated in high-level negotiations on Iran, Iraq, and North Korea, and in the IAEA/US/Russian Federation negotiations on the Trilateral Initiative and the Plutonium Management and Disposition Agreement.

Prior to her current position at the VCDNP, Ms. Rockwood served as the Executive Director of the Open Nuclear Network, a programme of One Earth Future, and as the VCDNP’s Executive Director between 2015 and 2019.

Education

Ms. Rockwood received a Juris Doctor degree in 1976 from the University of California’s Hastings College of Law, San Francisco, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1973 from the University of California, Berkeley. She is a member of the State Bar of California and of the Washington, D.C. Bar Association.