National security experts to discuss nuclear proliferation

Tonight’s lecture at the Indiana Memorial Union is going to be da bomb.\nThe Union Board and the Student Alliance for National Security have invited several prominent diplomatic and intelligence experts, including the former chief of CIA covert operations in Europe and a former U.S. assistant secretary of state, to panel the program, “Securing the Bomb: Stopping Nuclear Proliferation in the 21st Century” 6:30 p.m. today in the IMU’s Alumni Hall.\nThe program will feature former Assistant Secretary of State Avis Bohlen, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Donald Mahley, former CIA Chief of Covert Operations in Europe Tyler Drumheller and Arms Control Association Executive Director Daryl Kimball.\nThese panelists will be discussing the nuclear threat from states like Iran and North Korea, said Miles Taylor, executive director for the Student Alliance for National Security.\n“The threat of nuclear terrorism is so daunting – and the spread of nuclear weapons to new countries is so destabilizing to the world,” Taylor said. “We thought students at IU should be more familiar with the problems being faced.”\nOne day IU students will be among the nation’s leaders, and as a result, Taylor said it is important for these students to understand the challenges we will face as a nation in the future. Nuclear proliferation ranks among those challenges. \nThe threat of terrorists acquiring nuclear weapons was labeled as one of the greatest dangers facing the United States by the 9/11 Commission.\nAlready the United States is recognized as a worldwide leader in the effort to stop the spread of nuclear weapons by helping create a number of treaties, laws and agreements, Taylor said.\nThe program hopes to inform attendees of the possible danger that might exist in the future when dealing with nuclear weapons. \n“We are very fortunate to have put together a top flight panel to discuss the threat,” Taylor said.