OVERVIEW

5-way joint committees with full crisis elements (25 delegates)

The National Security Apparatus (NSA) is NAIMUN’s most dynamic and unique organ. The only one of its kind on the high school circuit, the NSA is made up of five crisis-style committees existing within the same simulated world. Each committee has approximately 25 delegates, simulating the government or National Security Apparatus of different countries. The coordinated nature of the NSA means that the actions of delegates in one committee can influence the others.

The NSA is unique on the circuit because it asks delegates to balance multiple levels of diplomacy in real time. While domestic concerns will play a large role in individual committees, the interactive nature of the NSA means that international considerations will always be involved. Furthermore, this NSA is designed to facilitate coalitions that reflect geopolitical factors at play in the region. Thus, individual delegates’ crisis arcs will have impacts beyond their committees, and communication between delegates and cabinets will be critical to coordinate responses. The stakes are high, and this interconnected crisis will surely challenge even the most seasoned delegates.

This year, our NSA committees simulate the administrations of five key players responding to the 1878 conflict over the Atacama Desert, known to history as La Guerra del Pacífico.

PREMISE

The situation in the Atacama Desert is tense. The Atacama Desert is a sparsely populated region in Western South America where the borders of Bolivia, Argentina, Chile, and Peru converge. Crucially, it is rich in resources ranging from precious ores, to agricultural products, to the most important of all: nitrate. The Atacama contains the largest nitrate deposits in the world. Nitrate began to be extensively mined in the early 19th century and drove the region's economic development. The nitrate from the Atacama was exported to the United States and Europe, where it could be turned into both agricultural fertilizer and, more importantly, explosives like gunpowder. Nitrate exports are a significant part of the economy of all countries in this region, especially because of the worldwide economic downturn since the Panic of 1873, and all countries desire to monopolize the resource for themselves.

Since 1873, Peru and Bolivia have been united by a secret treaty of alliance against Chile. There have been repeated recent disputes between each country involving the extraction of nitrate, which led to the Boundary Treaty of 1874. This treaty established a rough border agreement and forbade tax increases on mining enterprises. However, earlier this year (1878), Bolivia, concerned about competition from Chile, broke that treaty and levied an increased tax on the Chilean nitrate company Compañía de Salitres y Ferrocarril de Antofagasta (CFSA). When the CFSA did not comply with this tax, the Bolivian government rescinded the CFSA’s license, confiscated its assets, and is now threatening to put them up for auction. Chile, enraged by this, is now calling into question the rest of the 1874 treaty, including the border agreement. Both the nitrate and geopolitical situation in the Atacama Desert are ready to explode.

COMMITTEES

GRAND CRISIS MANAGER: will doran

UNDER-SECRETARIES-GENERAL

Saanvi Bhagwat & Liam Austin