The UN Security Council has chosen Hans Blix, former director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), to be chief inspector of a new disarmament commission for Iraq. Blix served as director general of the IAEA from 1981 to 1997--a crucial period in the Agency's history marked by the increasing risks posed by nuclear weapons' proliferation, especially in the developing world, and rising public concerns and controversies following the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear plant in the former Soviet Union. Blix has visited the ICTP on several occasions, including the Salam Memorial Meeting in 1997 and the official ceremony for the transfer of the Centre's management responsibilities from IAEA to UNESCO in 1996.