Steps To Zero/Steps To The Bar

I am going to be on a panel that Jill is putting together on Tuesday, December 9, followed by a happy hour.

Here are the details for the event, which will be at the Carnegie Endowment. The happy hour will be at The Big Hunt immediately after.

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

On behalf of Physicians for Social Responsibility, you are invited to “Steps to Zero,” an informative talk on steps the next administration and Congress can take towards the total elimination of nuclear weapons. This will be followed by a small wine and cheese reception.

Date: Tuesday, December 9, 2008, 4:00 to 5:30 p.m.

Location: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 1779 Massachusetts Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20036

Speakers: Dr. Edward Ifft, Jenifer Mackby, Sharon Squassoni and Dr. Jeffrey Lewis

This is a forum to learn and discuss these steps to zero with the experts. Speakers and topics to be addressed:

1. The Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I): Value of START and potential for a new verifiable disarmament treaty with Russia.

Dr. Edward Ifft, Adjunct Professor in the Security Studies Program of the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. Dr. Ifft is a retired State Department Official who served on the U.S. delegations to the SALT, TTBT, START and CTBT negotiations, was the Senior State Representative to both the START and CTBT negotiations and served as Deputy Chief U.S. Negotiator to START. Dr. Ifft also served as Deputy Director of the On-Site Inspection Agency and Senior Advisor to the Defense Threat Reduction Agency.

2. Implementation of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT)

Jenifer Mackby, fellow in the Center for Strategic and International Studies, former senior political affairs officer in the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, Switzerland, where she worked on the negotiations of the CTBT, and served as secretary of the work on verification for the CTBT Organization in Vienna, Austria.

3. Fissile Material Cut off Treaty (FMCT) and Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference 2010

Sharon Squassoni, Senior Associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, former Congressional Research Service nonproliferation specialist and 9 year safeguards expert in the executive branch, as well as director of Policy Coordination in the Nonproliferation Bureau at the State Department.

4. Commentary: Prospects for Taking these Steps to Zero

Dr. Jeffrey G. Lewis, Director, Nuclear Strategy and Nonproliferation Initiative, New America Foundation. Previously, Dr. Lewis was Executive Director of the Managing the Atom Project at Harvard University’s Belfer Center. He is author of Minimum Means of Reprisal: China’s Search for Security in the Nuclear Age (MIT Press, 2007). Dr. Lewis founded and maintains the leading blog on nuclear arms control and nonproliferation, ArmsControlWonk.com.

Unfortunately space is limited, so please RSVP by noon Monday December 8. RSVP directly to this email or to jparillo[at]psr.org

This panel discussion is made possible by generous support from the Ford Foundation.

Hope to see you there!

Best Regards,

Jill

Jill Marie Parillo

Deputy Director for Security Programs
and Director of US-Iranian Scientific Exchange Initiative
Physicians for Social Responsibility
1875 Connecticut Avenue, NW; Suite 1012