Current events in Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Georgia, as well as other hotspots, have brought into sharp focus that there is indeed a new arms race in progress. “The endless quest for nuclear superiority is part of the larger gamble that U.S. elites are making with all our futures: that the pursuit of global military dominance will allow them to shore up their slipping economic hegemony for a few decades more. Nuclear weapons ultimately back massive U.S. conventional forces and an aggressive military posture world wide. As the Air Force Strategic Planning Directive for Fiscal Years 2006-2023 made clear, nuclear weapons provide “… a credible deterrent umbrella under which conventional forces operate and, if deterrence fails, strike a wide variety of high-value targets with a highly reliable, responsive and lethal nuclear force... Desired effects include: Freedom for U.S. and Allied forces to operate, employ, and engage at will…”  (from the Spring 2008 information brief, entitled Nuclear Weapons Forever: The U.S. Plan to Modernize its Nuclear Weapons Complex, published by Western States Legal Foundation)

Jacqueline Cabasso, a leading voice for nuclear arms abolition, has been involved in nuclear disarmament, peace and environmental advocacy at the local, national and international levels for more than 25 years. She has served as Executive Director of the Oakland-based Western States Legal Foundation since 1984. At the national level, she serves on the Steering Committee of United for Peace and Justice. Ms. Cabasso has participated as an accredited NGO representative in more than a dozen negotiating and review sessions of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. She represented WSLF in the first preparatory meeting for the 2010 Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, in Vienna last May. Ms. Cabasso has written and co-authored numerous articles for publications including the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and the journal Social Justice.

Andrew Lichterman is Western States Legal Foundation’s principal research analyst. Mr. Lichterman writes extensively on U.S. nuclear weapons and military space programs and their impacts on international arms control regimes and on prospects for disarmament, both in WSLF publications and for other outlets. Mr. Lichterman serves on the Global Council of Abolition 2000, and is a member of the editorial board of the International Network of Engineers and Scientists Against Proliferation Information Bulletin. He taught law for many years, including courses on environmental law, legal history, and the rights of demonstrators. Mr. Lichterman holds a J.D. from Boalt Hall, U.C. Berkeley, and a B.A. from Yale.

For more information about the work of the Western States Legal Foundation, please see the website: http://www.wslfweb.org/

*Note:  We apologize, but due to a technical failure at the venue our recording engineer was unable to capture this event, and we are unable to provide an audio podcast or any other recording of this Forum.