On Wednesday morning, NBA commissioner David Stern met with the Overseas Security Advisory Council to discuss the organization's impact in growing the NBA game internationally. The Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC) is a Federal Advisory Committee with a U.S. Government Charter to promote security cooperation between American businesses and private sector interests worldwide and the U.S. Department of State. OSAC encompasses a 34-member core council, an executive office, more than 100 country councils and more than 3,500 constituent member organizations as well as 372 associates. "What I want to share with you is that the people of the NBA have been doing an enormous amount and the NBA is enormously dependant on OSAC and its fellow members for helping us to navigate our international journey," Stern said. Stern said there are 15 cites around the world with NBA offices and that the league has hosted events in more than 200 cities outside the United States. The NBA stages preseason games all over the world including preseason friendlies. Stern credited Washington Wizards owner Abe Polin for kick-starting the international aspect of the NBA. He took the then-Bullets to China in 1979 for a preseason game. In 1985, Stern's first season as commissioner, he met with Chinese officials with the hopes of having the Chinese National Team play in the United States. "Lo and behold we were hosting the Chinese National team. They spent a month in the U.S. training with and scrimmaging with NBA teams," Stern said. Stern talked about how the bond between the NBA and international teams have grown through the years. "We scheduled these McDonald's tournaments in Madrid in 1988 and from there we went from Madrid to Rome to Paris, Munich, London, Milan. I don't know what we were doing, but we were there. Along the way we were getting briefings from OSAC." The NBA has grown internationally ever since then. Games have been played overseas each year and in the preseason, the NBA hosted games in both Europe and China. "The NBA has held 80 preseason games in 28 cities between 1988-2008," Stern said. "We played regular season games going back to 1990 in Japan. We were the first league to do that and we played regular season games again in '92, 94, 96, 99 and 2003." Stern said the 1992 Olympics in particular shaped how the NBA and OSAC worked together to provide for a smooth, safe experience for players and their families. "We then began to learn what it was to do things outside the United States for traveling celebrities dealing with everything from their personal safety, to their housing, to the arena to the healthcare issues to security threats. Our relationship with the state and OSAC continued to grow." "We had team members ready to leave after the bombing, but in cooperation with state and others, we learned what was going on and took care of it." As tensions have risen internationally, Stern said information from OSAC officials have helped keep NBA players safe overseas during the Olympic Games since 1992. "The OSAC Olympic Security Coordination center was important for us for purposes of information at the time of the [Beijing Games] stabbing [incident]. Good information was in short supply and we got good information in quick supply from OSAC." Stern also talked about the impact Basketball without Borders has had on the international landscape of basketball. The program has featured more than 300 NBA players, coaches and team personnel from 30 different teams as camp coaches and mentors for more than 1,000 young athletes from 100 countries and territories. This year, more than 65 members of the NBA family will take part, including more than 30 current and former NBA coaches and team personnel. Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas have held camps and overall, the NBA has done 134 basketball clinics around the world during Stern's tenure. "Everyplace we go we do something. In every city about building a place to play, learn or live," Stern said. The Iranian National Team participated in this year's Rocky Mountain Revue, a summer league hosted by the Utah Jazz. Stern said close coordination with OSAC made the Iranian team's participation go smoothly. "With support and encouragement of the Department of State, we invited the Iranian National Team to participate in the Utah summer league," Stern said. "It was an interesting coalition of senators, governors, state department and NBA to make that happen. It was quite an effort and it was quite successful. "We got enormous cooperation in terms of travel and clearances. A good time was had by all and demonstrates the value of business as an international language and in this case, the business was basketball." Overall, Stern said close working with OSAC has allowed the NBA's international dreams to flourish. "We have lots of security considerations. We worry about team safety and transport. All these events require extensive coordination specifically with regard to security and safety. Everything we do in the U.S. to stage an event we have do overseas, but it's made more difficult by logistical concerns," Stern said. "We rely extensively on assistance from U.S. Embassys abroad, fellow businesses abroad and for us, that spells OSAC."