Harvard Club of Central Florida

Harvard Professor Tom Nichols Speaks on New Ideas for National Defense: Beyond Nuclear Deterrence

Join us at Dubsdread

Harvard Club of Central Florida Distinguished Speaker Series

Speaker:    Professor Tom Nichols. Adjunct Professor, Harvard Extension School; Professor of National Security Affairs, Naval War College and Senior Associate of the Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs

Are there better options for our country – for every country - than nuclear-backed policies with roots in the Cold War?
 

More than two decades after the end of the Cold War, the U.S. maintains a nuclear arsenal on high alert and ready for war. The Americans, like other major nuclear powers, continue to retain a deep faith in the political and military value of nuclear force, and this belief remains at the center of U.S. defense policy regardless of the changes that have taken place in international politics.

Prof. Nichols argues the need to reexamine the role of nuclear weapons in U.S. security strategy. He explains why strategies built for the Cold War have survived, and he illustrates how America's nearly unshakable belief in the utility of nuclear arms has hindered attempts to slow the nuclear programs of volatile regimes in North Korea and Iran. Prof Nichols argues that to end the danger of worldwide nuclear holocaust, the U.S. must take the lead in creating a new approach to deterrence.

Prof. Nichols is a past recipient of the Petra T. Shattuck Excellence in Teaching Award from Harvard Extension School. He was also a fellow in the International Security Program and the Project on Managing the Atom at the Harvard Kennedy School. He also has past or present affiliations with Boston University, Columbia, Dartmouth, Georgetown and the University of Pennsylvania … and is a five time champion on Jeopardy!