Stanford Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC)

The Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC) is Stanford University’s hub for researchers tackling some of the world's most pressing security and international cooperation issues.

Founded 30 years ago, CISAC in its early years brought together scholars focused on U.S.-Soviet-China relations, arms control and nonproliferation, and the scientific and technical aspects of international security. Today we are building on our historic strengths to seek solutions to the many longstanding and emerging challenges associated with an increasingly complex world.

We are guided by our longstanding belief that a commitment to rigorous scholarship, openness to new ideas, and lively intellectual exchange can spur the creation and spread of knowledge to help build a safer world.

Among those are cybersecurity, war and civil conflict, migration and transnational flows, public health and biosecurity, international norms and ethics, as well as insurgency, terrorism, homeland security and nuclear proliferation. CISAC’s multidisciplinary community brings together social scientists, historians, lawyers, physical and biological scientists, engineers, as well as leaders from the private sector and the world of public policy.

Through education, scholarship and Track II  diplomacy, CISAC strives to influence the policymaking agenda in the United States and abroad. We are guided in this effort by our longstanding belief that a commitment to rigorous scholarship, openness to new ideas, and lively intellectual exchange can spur the creation and spread of knowledge to help build a safer world.