2009 PONI Spring Conference - U.S. Naval Academy

The CSIS Project on Nuclear Issues (PONI) held its Spring Conference on March 26-27 at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. This conference drew over 110 participants and marked the beginning of the 2009 conference series, which will consist of three regional conferences - on the east coast, west coast, and in the United Kingdom - leading up to our year-end Capstone Conference at U.S. Strategic Command in Omaha, Nebraska. The Spring Conference featured panel presentations addressing considerations for U.S. strategic posture, proliferation dynamics and responses, new military/technological capabilities and associated challenges.

Day one of the Spring Conference also included a special panel of expert speakers from the policy community, including: Jonathan Granoff, President of the Global Security Institute; Henry Sokolski, Executive Director of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center; and Stephen Young, Senior Analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists. Day two of the conference featured a technical expert presentation from Idaho National Laboratory's Kevin Carney, who delivered a talk on Radiological Dispersive Device Forensics.

During the breakout session participants debated the issue of how the U.S. can reconcile nuclear nonproliferation and arms control objectives with the need to sustain credible nuclear capabilities through modernization. In other words, how we can "lead but hedge" effectively. Breakout group leaders presented their group's findings during the plenary session on day two. PONI thanks all those who attended and also the U.S. Naval Academy for serving as outstanding hosts for the Spring Conference for the second consecutive year.