As talks resume tomorrow, March 18, in Vienna on a comprehensive nuclear accord with Iran, a select group of experts and think tanks may play an outsized role in determining how the US Congress and media interpret a potential agreement.

Among them are the Institute for Science and International Security, the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies of the Monterey Institute for International Studies, the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University, the Arms Control Association, the Brookings Institution and the London-based International Institute of Strategic Studies. 

Many of these groups have put out blueprints for a long-term nuclear deal or are working on analyses of what combinations of nuclear facilities and verification might insure that Iran could not easily acquire nuclear weapons. The Institute for Science and International Security, in particular, has carved out a niche by estimating the mix of centrifuges and enriched uranium stockpiles that would provide confidence that Iran could not break out for six months to one year — long enough, in the view of most experts, for any violation to be detected by the international community.

Institute for Science and International Security founder and President David Albright is a frequent witness on Capitol Hill, where he sometimes gets a more respectful reception from both Democrats and Republicans than chief US nuclear negotiator Wendy Sherman.