Sam Nunn

Sam Nunn is co-chairman and chief executive officer of the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization working to reduce the risk of use and prevent the spread of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. He served as a United States Senator from Georgia for 24 years (1972-1996). Since its founding in 2001, NTI has worked to close the gap between the global threats from nuclear, biological and chemical weapons and the global response.  By designing and implementing its own projects to directly reduce threats, NTI encourages governments to reduce threats faster, smarter and on a larger scale and demonstrates how the non-governmental sector can play an important role on these issues. In addition to his work with NTI, Senator Nunn has continued his service in the public policy arena as a distinguished professor in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at Georgia Tech and as chairman emeritus of the board of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C.  He is a board member of The Coca-Cola Company and is retired from the law firm of King & Spalding. Raised in the small town of Perry in middle Georgia, he attended Georgia Tech, Emory University and Emory Law School, where he graduated with honors in 1962.  After active duty service in the U.S. Coast Guard, he served six years in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve.  He first entered politics as a member of the Georgia House of Representatives in 1968. During his tenure in the U.S. Senate, Senator Nunn served as chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.  He also served on the Intelligence and Small Business Committees.  His legislative achievements include the “Nunn-Lugar” Cooperative Threat Reduction Program, which provided assistance for more than 20 years to Russia and the former Soviet republics for securing and destroying their excess nuclear, biological and chemical weapons and the Department of Defense Reorganization Act, drafted with the late Senator Barry Goldwater.