Poni On The Move

The PONI team headed out to sunny San Diego for the summer conference hosted at UCSD. The conference went well including some of the following highlights:

-Keynote address: the "soul of PONI," Ambassador Linton Brooks, was awarded a small plaque for his years of thankless service to PONI by helping sharpen young ideas on nuclear thinking. He gave an excellent talk about nuclear disarmament and the obstacles our generation will have to tackle should that come to fruition.

-Breakout session: the breakout session divided the conference into smaller groups to explore the question "What is the role of nuclear weapons? What contributions, if any, do they make to U.S. and international security?" Not surprisingly, there was substantial divergence within groups on the feasibility and desirability of a world without nuclear weapons. The group I was in had a very interesting tangent about the massive recruiting and retention problems the nuclear mission faces within the labs.

-Panels: Without going into too much detail, the panels featured presentations on the meta topics of human capital and complex, deterrence and extended deterrence, nuclear smuggling and attacks, and nuclear force levels and competition. Within the next few weeks, the powerpoints from the presentations should be posted on the PONI website.

The PONI blog (and website) will be undergoing some substantial changes within the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned and hopefully we will be able to smoothly navigate the transition process.