The AAAS Center for Science, Technology and Security Policy in cooperation with WSPA is sponsoring a seminar on nuclear proliferation. The seminar will take place in the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Auditorium, 1200 New York Ave., NW, Washington, DC, from 8:15 to about 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, February 3, 2005. It looks like it should be a good seminar and worth getting up early for.
Full invite after the jump.
Dear Colleague,
You are cordially invited to a breakfast seminar organized by the AAAS
Center for Science, Technology and Security Policy in cooperation with
WSPA. The seminar will take place in the American Association for the
Advancement of Science (AAAS) Auditorium, 1200 New York Ave., NW,
Washington, DC, from 8:15 to about 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, February 3,
2003. A complimentary continental breakfast will be served on the
second floor of the AAAS Building beginning at 7:30 a.m.
The speaker will be Dr. Siegfried Hecker, former director of Los Alamos
National Laboratory (1986-1997) and currently a Senior Fellow at LANL.
The title of Dr. Hecker's talk will be "A Personal Perspective on the
Changing Nuclear Threat."
Dr. Hecker has been long been concerned about the proliferation of
nuclear weapons. Recognized as one of the world's experts on plutonium,
he was the last U.S. scientist able to visit North Korea's nuclear
program and was given the opportunity to examine what his hosts claimed
was plutonium metal. In addition to his current research activities in
plutonium science and stockpile stewardship, he works closely with the
Russian Academy of Sciences and the Russian Ministry of Atomic Energy on
a variety of cooperative threat reduction programs. An abstract of his
talk appears below.
This seminar is sponsored by the AAAS Center for Science, Technology
and Security Policy (CSTSP) in cooperation with Washington Science
Policy Alliance (WSPA). The goal of the CSTSP is to encourage the
integration of science and public policy for enhanced national and
international security. The Center acts as a two-way portal that
facilitates communication between academic centers, policy institutes,
and policymakers. For more information see
http://www.aaas.org/programs/centers/cstsp/.
WSPA is a coalition of science policy organizations in the Washington,
DC, area. For information about the Alliance and to sign up for the
WSPA mailing list and receive invitations to future seminars, please
visit http://www.aaas.org/spp/wspa/ and complete the form you will find
there.
There is no cost for the seminar or the breakfast. However, attendance
will be limited by the capacity of the auditorium; first-come
first-served. Please reply to rsvp@aaas.org or 202 326 6601 by 5 p.m.
on Tuesday February 1. DO NOT USE YOUR REPLY FUNCTION. If you are
unable to attend, please cancel.
The AAAS Building is located 1200 New York Ave., NW. The main entrance
is at 12th & H Streets. The nearest station is Metro Center (exit 12th
and G Sts.).
For further information, please contact Al Teich in Science & Policy
Programs at AAAS (ateich@aaas.org) or Benn Tannenbaum at the Center for
Science, Technology and Security Policy (btannenb@aaas.org).
ABSTRACT OF DR. HECKER'S TALK
The nuclear threat has changed from the Cold War concern of ending
civilization as we know it to one of securing "loose nukes" in chaotic
Russia and other states of the former Soviet Union following its
collapse. Today's threat is driven by nuclear black marketeering, the
resurgence of religious and ethnic conflicts, and the emergence of
international megaterrorism. Whereas during the Cold War nuclear
deterrence brought an uneasy global peace, the terrorists who unleashed
the havoc of 9/11 will show no restraint should they acquire nuclear
weapons or the materials necessary for their manufacture. During his
directorship of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, Dr. Hecker played an
active role in changing the nuclear landscape. During the past seven
years, he has been engaged in threat reduction programs internationally.
He will provide his views on how to cope with the six greatest nuclear
threats we face today: 1) Pakistan, 2) North Korea, 3) inadequately
secured highly enriched uranium worldwide, 4) the Russian nuclear
complex, 5) Kazakhstan, and 6) Iran.