Abstract
Jonathan was the founding director of the Chemical and Biological Weapons Nonproliferation Program of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS) at the Monterey Institute of International Studies in Monterey, CA, after starting there in 1996. Before working at CNS, Jonathan worked on arms control and nonproliferation issues at the State Department, the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment, and the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency. From 1993 to 1995, he served on the U.S. delegation to the Preparatory Commission for the Chemical Weapons Convention in The Hague, and in 1995 he was a United Nations biological weapons inspector in Iraq. In 2008, he served as a professional staff member for the bipartisan Commission on the Prevention of WMD Proliferation and Terrorism. In 2010, he was the George Zundel Professor of Science and Technology for Peace and Security at Darmstadt University of Technology in Darmstadt, Germany. Along the way, he held positions as visiting fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institution, the U.S. Institute of Peace, and the American Academy in Berlin, and as Fulbright Senior Scholar at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs. Most recently, he ran the Biosecurity Education Project for the Federation of American Scientists in Washington, DC.
Jonathan was a prolific author whose well-regarded books include War of Nerves: Chemical Warfare from World War I to Al Qaeda (Pantheon, 2006); Scourge: The Once and Future Threat of Smallpox (Grove/Atlantic, 2001); and, as editor, Toxic Terror: Assessing the Terrorist Use of Chemical and Biological Weapons (MIT Press, 2000). He made countless contributions to academic journals over the years as an author, editor, and reviewer.
Many of us at the Center for Biosecurity have been fortunate to work alongside Jonathan on a range of issues. We are proud to have published a number of his articles in our Journal, and we will miss his skills and attention as an expert reviewer of others. Jonathan was known to us as a determined and resolute advocate of arms control, an analyst who argued strongly for his position, a courageous scholar who worked tirelessly to get to the bottom of things. He made up his own mind, and he was not afraid to go against the grain. His passing is a great loss to our ongoing understanding of the issues about which he cared so deeply. Our condolences go out to his family, his friends, and his broader professional community.