As such, Blix was the first Western representative to inspect the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster in the Soviet Union on-site and led the agency's response to them.

On 17 March 2003, U.S. President George W. Bush delivered an address from the White House announcing that within 48 hours, the United States would invade Iraq unless Saddam Hussein would leave.

Kofi Annan originally recommended Rolf Ekéus, who worked with UNSCOM in the past, but Russia and France vetoed his appointment.

Blix personally admonished Saddam for "cat and mouse" games[4] and warned Iraq of "serious consequences" if it attempted to hinder or delay his mission.

[5] In his report to the UN Security Council on 14 February 2003, Blix claimed that "so far, UNMOVIC has not found any such weapons [of mass destruction], only a small number of empty chemical munitions.

Senior American officials ordered the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to investigate Blix to gather "sufficient ammunition to undermine" him so that the US could start the invasion of Iraq.

[11][12] Blix said he suspected his home and office were bugged by the United States while he led teams searching for Saddam Hussein's supposed weapons of mass destruction.

[14] Since 2003 Blix has been chairman of the Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission (WMDC), an independent body funded by the Swedish government and based in Stockholm.

[20] The International Advisory Board (IAB) oversees the progress of the nation's nuclear energy plan and issues reports on potential improvements to the scheme.