Last week, we hosted our fifth live debate. In one of the best debates of the series, John Steinbruner, Professor of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, and Walt Slocombe, former Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, debated about de-alerting the U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals. The audio and video is available here.
The specific topic wording was:
Resolved: that the United States should pursue a negotiated agreement with Russia to de-alert each country's nuclear arsenal by implementing reversible physical changes to substantially increase the time required to launch
Each side, Steinbruner on the affirmative and Slocombe on the negative, gave an opening statement. The statements were followed by a series of question periods (asking each other, moderator, then audience) and brief closing remarks.
Here's the final resolution and agenda for tonight's de-alerting debate between John Steinbruner and Walt Slocombe. You can still RSVP by contacting Chris Jones at: cjones@csis.org. We look forward to seeing you tonight.
PONI Live Debate: De-Alerting
November 5, 2009, 6:00-8:00 P.M.
B1 Conference Center, CSIS
Resolved: that the United States should pursue a negotiated agreement with Russia to de-alert each country's nuclear arsenal by implementing reversible physical changes to substantially increase the time required to launch
6:00-6:20 OPENING RECEPTION AND WELCOME
6:20-7:30 THE DE-ALERTING DEBATE
Affirmative: John D. Steinbruner, Professor of Public Policy at the University of Maryland
Negative: Walter B. Slocombe, Former Undersecretary of Defense for Policy
Moderator: John K. Warden, Project on Nuclear Issues, CSIS
6:20-6:35 Opening Statements
6:35-6:50 Cross-Examination and Moderator Questions
6:50-7:20 Audience Question and Answer
7:20-7:30 Closing Statements
7:30-8:00 CLOSING RECEPTION
Last call for those interested in the upcoming PONI Debates the Issues event between John Steinbruner and Walt Slocombe. Details below:
Date and Time: Thursday, November 5, 6-8 pm
Topic: Physical De-Alerting of the U.S. Nuclear Arsenal
After a bit of an extended absence, PDI live debates are back with a bang. Debate 5 will feature John Steinbruner of UMD fame and Walt Slocombe from Caplin and Drysdale debating the timely subject of de-alerting. Details as a follows:
Date: Thursday, November 5
Time: 6:00 – 8:00 pm (a bit later than previous events)
Topic: Physical de-alerting
Location: CSIS B1 Conference Center (1800 K St NW)
To RSVP, contact Chris Jones via e-mail here or phone at (202) 775-3234.
As part of the kickoff for the new blog, PONI Debates the Issues will be expanding its "Fissile Material" feature. Based off of news gathered for an internally produced daily nuclear news document, the PDI blog will be posting daily the complete contents of the edition for that day. Without further ado:
Yesterday evening, PDI hosted the fourth installment of the live debate series. The subject was North Korean denuclearization (Resolved: that the United States should continue the policy of complete and verifiable disarmament of the Korean Peninsula) and featured Bruce Klingner, Senior Research Fellow at Heritage, on the affirmative and Doug Bandow, Senior Fellow at CATO, on the negative. In case you couldn’t make it watch all the action here:
Friendly reminder from your PONI staff that we are hosting a live debate tomorrow evening. The details are as follows:
Topic: North Korean Denuclearization
Debaters: Bruce Klingner, Heritage Foundation, and Doug Bandow, CATO Institute
Time: 5:30 - 7:30 pm
Location: CSIS (1800 K St NW, Washington, DC 20006)
There are still a few seats available. To RSVP, click here.
PONI Debates the Issues is proud to announce the fourth installment of its live debates series on Wednesday, July 15 from 5:30-7:30 pm here at CSIS in the B1 Conference Center. The debate will feature:
Bruce Klingner, Senior Research Fellow, The Heritage Foundation
and
Doug Bandow, Senior Fellow, CATO Institute
The topic for the debate will be:
Resolved: that the United States should continue the policy of complete and verifiable disarmament of the Korean Peninsula
If you are interested in the event, please RSVP here.
We've got the embedded video for the PONI Debates the Issues debate we had last week to make viewing it even easier:
Last night, PONI Debates the Issues hosted the third installment of the series. The debate featured Daryl Kimball, Executive Director of the Arms Control Association, and Stephen Rademaker, Senior Counsel at the BGR Group debating the CTBT. The debate got a little feisty and trying to enforce time constraints proved futile but there was definitely a strong back and forth about some of the pertinent issues facing the CTBT debate, particularly in the wake of the recently released Strategic Posture Commission report. For those that couldn't make it, you can watch and listen to the debate here: Watch the Debate Listen to the Debate We will embed a video of the debate on the blog soon. We'd love to hear some comments on what people thought about the debate and feel free to e-mail us if you have ideas for topics, participants, and formats for future debate events.
