Chemical Weapons Watchdog Awarded Nobel Peace Prize in Surprise Win

President Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize before his first term was barely under way. Others have been awarded after their achievements became part of history. Today, the Norwegian Nobel Committee chose an agency currently at work on an unprecedented mission that’s hazardous in the extreme: the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons is a UN sponsored agency based in the Hague. But it appears that the Nobel Committee apparently had trouble getting through with notification that it had won this year’s Prize for Peace. Joshua Keating is a staff writer on international affairs at slate.com