A Message from NGOCDPS President Bruce Knotts

Welcome, friends, to the first issue of Disarmament Times E-

News!

The past year has been a time of transition and growth for the
NGO Committee on Disarmament, Peace and Security. We
have consolidated our offices and are in the process of
rebuilding our committee membership, aiming to strengthen our
presence in the NGO disarmament and peace community at
the UN.

We hope you have noticed our revitalized program efforts, organized and chaired by
NGOCDPS member and lawyer Guy Quinlan, including many recent and upcoming
events highlighted in this publication. With both our programs and publications, we are
striving to connect the dots between nuclear weapons and their humanitarian and
environmental impacts, and add a human face to technical or complex issues.

We would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to Melissa Gillis, who has departed after
seven years of outstanding service as editor of the Disarmament Times. We will miss
her and wish her well in her new adventures.

Upon Melissas departure, we have revamped our publication strategyswitching the
print version of the Disarmament Times to a twice-yearly schedule, and adding this
digital version to be issued every two months. We intend to use both publications to
educate and inspire efforts to effect global peace.

We are excited to introduce our new editors. Elaine Riot, editor of Disarmament Times
E-News, is a seasoned writer-editor with expertise in non-profit and corporate
communications and a background in higher education administration. She volunteers
as social media coordinator for Loretto at the UN, and maintains an alternate identity as
playwright, blogger and screenwriter.

Chuck Rosenberg, our new print edition editor, is a UN retiree who served in
peacekeeping missions in Kosovo, Haiti, and Mozambique, and in the offices of the
Under-Secretaries-General for Peacekeeping Operations and for Management,
principally in management analysis and organizational communications. He also
sustains a parallel artistic existence as a published poet, literary translator, songwriter,
and musician.

We hope our new efforts will be of service to the UN community and beyond. We are
proud to be furthering the work of the NGO Committee on Disarmament, Peace and
Security, which celebrates its 36
th
anniversary this year.

In Peace,
Bruce Knotts
President, NGOCDPS