It was established in 1993, through an international multilateral treaty to help scientists and researches involved in the research, development and production of nuclear, biological and chemical assets in former Soviet member states to transition from military to civilian, market oriented careers in their fields of expertise.
The former Soviet Union conducted research, development and deployed nuclear, biological and chemical weaponry and had employed several thousand scientists, physicists and engineers with expertise in these areas.
The collapse of the Soviet Union lead to the unemployment of many of these scientists and engineers while others had not received payments for their employment.
The West believed that the dissemination of expert knowledge in these areas or the employment of these researchers and developers of these military assets by unfriendly nations or terror networks would lead to the proliferation of nuclear, biological and chemical weaponry.
Therefore the western countries provided funding grants to keep these researchers and developers employed on civilian oriented projects thus preventing them from selling their services or expertise to enemy nation states or organizations.