U.S.-UK Nuclear Cooperation: An Assessment and Future Prospects

As Britain and the US commemorate 50 years of their special nuclear relationship embodied in the Mutual Defense Agreement of 1958, CSIS and Chatham House collaborated on a Workshop Panel and book launching on July 8.  Participants included the Secretary of the Navy, Directors of the Los Alamos and Livermore National Laboratories as well as the Atomic Weapons Establishment, top executives from Northrop Grumman, Rolls-Royce Submarines, and senior officials.  The book, U.S.-UK Nuclear Cooperation After 50 Years, includes chapters by former senior officials and scientists involved in implementing the Agreement who look to the future of the relationship. The book contains abstracts from 36 oral histories with Des Browne, UK Secretary of State for Defence, James Schlesinger, former U.S. Secretary of Energy and Harold Brown, former US Secretary of Defense, among others, and their full interviews are available online, www.csis.org/isp/poni/us-uk.  The book includes a section on the historical chronology of the relationship, as well as chapters on various aspects of that history by young professionals in the field who participate in the CSIS Project on Nuclear Issues.

8:45 – 9:00 Introductory Remarks and Presentation of Book

Clark Murdock, Senior Adviser, Director of PONI, CSIS

Jenifer Mackby, Fellow, International Security Program, CSIS

Paul Cornish, Head, International Security Programme, Chatham House

9:00 - 10:15  Panel 1 - Lessons Learned

Chair: Garry George, AWE, on secondment to Lawrence Livermore and Sandia National Laboratories

Michael Anastasio, Director, Los Alamos National Laboratory

Frank Panton, Former Director, Royal Armament Research and Development Establishment

Steve Ludlam, President – Submarines, Rolls Royce

Robert Joseph, Senior Scholar, National Institute for Public Policy

Robin Pitman, Head of Nuclear Strategic Defence, British Defence Staff 

10:15 - 10:30 Coffee Break

10:30 - 11:45 Panel 2 - Policy Issues for the U.S. and UK

Chair: Clark Murdock, Senior Adviser, Director of PONI, CSIS

John Simpson, Director, Mountbatten Centre for International Studies, University of Southampton

Peter Nanos, Associate Director, Research and Development, DTRA

John Harvey, Director, Policy Planning Staff, National Nuclear Security Administration

Patrick Turner, Minister (Defence Materiel), British Defence Staff, US

12:00 – 2:00 Luncheon Roundtable Hosted by John Hamre

Introductory Remarks by Dr. Hamre, President and CEO, CSIS and

Dr. Robin Niblett, Director, Chatham House 

Panel 3 - The MDA:  Prospects for the Next 50 Years

Chair: Linton Brooks, Former Administrator, National Nuclear Security Administration

Keith O’Nions, Visiting Professor, Oxford University

Frank Miller, Senior Counselor, The Cohen Group and Senior Associate, CSIS

Don Cook, Director, Atomic Weapons Establishment

Joan Woodard, Executive Vice President and Deputy Laboratories Director for Nuclear Weapons, Sandia National Laboratories