Nuclear Insecurity: Threats, Risks, and Responses
Tuesday, August 20, 2024
NSF Hybrid Event
In-Person at our NEW VENUE!
Tamarack Casino
13101 S. Virginia St, Reno, NV
(Park and enter using Banquet Hall door on the north side of the building)
Breakfast served 8:00-9:00am, Forum 9:00-10:15am
Virtual on Zoom
Forum 9:00-10:15am PST
Register in advance for this webinar:
https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_GAPVUyPqR4aNgnxUt0ofdA
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
EXPERT PANEL:
Keith Hansen and Rae Huffstutler
NSF Regular Contributors
Neile Miller
Vice President Mission Support and Test Services, Nevada National Security Site
Tom Carey
Desert Research Institute
Welcome back to NSF events after our very busy spring and a tremendously successful Youth Security Forum in late May! Thank you to all of you who made YSF possible. Watch for our upcoming blog about this event and hints of plans for YSF 2025!
I also had the honor of attending a week-long National Security Seminar at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, PA, in early June. Participating in intense seminar discussions with leading US and international military officers about the topics of our time was exhilarating, inspiring, and exhausting. After taking a few weeks to recover, I am back in saddle and very happy to be organizing our fall program series.
NSF remains committed to keeping you informed about issues beyond the headlines and from multiple perspectives. Stay up to date on NSF programs by subscribing to our mailing list at: NSF Mailing List or better yet become a member at: Become a Member.
For most of our upcoming programs we will be meeting at Tamarack Casino in South Reno. They have a newly renovated banquet hall with a separate entrance and excellent parking on the north side of the building. When you turn into the parking lot turn right and follow the signs for the “Banquet Room.” Park anywhere on the northside of the building and enter via the walkway into the reception hall for the banquet room. We will see you there!!! You can always email Kimberly at: [email protected] or me at: [email protected] if you have questions or need more information about the location.
And now for the details about our upcoming breakfast forum on Tuesday, August 20th…
“Regional tensions, the proliferation of nuclear weapons and materials to make them—along with terrorism and new technologies like cyber—mean the risk of a nuclear weapon or device being used is rising. At the same time, governments’ ability to manage increasingly complex global security risks is eroding.” (NTI, https://www.nti.org/area/nuclear)
NTI reports there are 13,100 nuclear weapons in the world, 9 nuclear-armed countries – the US, Russia, United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea, and Israel (undeclared) – and 22 countries with significant quantities of weapons-usable nuclear materials that may be at risk of theft or proliferation. NTI recently released its 2023 Nuclear Security Index and a sobering report “Falling Short in a Dangerous World” (https://www.ntiindex.org). This report reviews the threats and ongoing and new efforts to counter them by the US and other nations.
The escalating tensions in the Middle East and the ongoing war in Ukraine keeps bringing the issue of nuclear security (or nuclear insecurity) to the forefront of global threat assessments. As I write this program announcement the Middle East (and the world) sits on a knife edge waiting for Iran and Hezbollah, and likely others, to retaliate for Israel’s recent killing of Hamas and Hezbollah leaders in Beirut and Tehran. The nuclear powder keg is dangerously close to flying sparks.
To help us navigate through a potentially nuclear insecure world will be an NSF panel of esteemed experts with many years of experience analyzing and countering nuclear threats. Keith Hansen and Rae Huffstutler, NSF regular contributors, will set the stage with an overview of the immediate and over-the-horizon nuclear threats. Starting with Russia’s nuclear saber rattling in Ukraine and NATO’s rebirth as a nuclear alliance. Moving to Iran’s nuclear ambitions and pivotal role in the ongoing Middle East conflict, complicated by Israel’s undeclared nuclear program situated in the middle of the tinder box
Zooming out to the over-the-horizon threats, they will spotlight how strained relations between the US and Russia over the Ukraine War could deal a fatal blow to the only remaining US-Russia nuclear arms treaty (New START Treaty, https://www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/new-start-glance), set to expire in 2026. And closing with insight on China’s current (and possibly future) nuclear posture and, of course, the ongoing challenge posed by Kim Yong Un in DPRK.
Pivoting from threats to countering threats, our panel will highlight Nevada’s unique role in securing nuclear materials and maintaining the US nuclear deterrent. Niele Miller, MSTS Vice President at the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS), will discuss how the US is anticipating and responding to the evolving threat environment with novel programs at NNSS. Dr. Thomas Carey (Desert Research Institute, Las Vegas) will then examine how regional conflicts and other global instability are threatening US and global nuclear nonproliferation efforts and what the US and our allies need to do to stay ahead of present and future nuclear adversaries.
Together our panelists will guide us through a rapidly changing threat environment and efforts by the US and our allies to counter these threats, while highlighting the unique role that Nevada plans in keeping our nation and the world safe.
Please join us for a very important and timely program and be ready to share your thoughts and questions with our speakers.
Keith Hansen has extensive experience in the defense and intelligence communities as a US Navy officer for 30 years and as a National Intelligence Officer (NIO) for Strategic Programs and Nuclear Proliferation. Hansen was deeply involved in negotiations on the disarmament of nuclear weapons, as well as on a comprehensive ban on nuclear testing. He and his wife live in Incline Village. He is the author of The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty: An Insider’s Perspective; coauthor of Spy Satellites and Other Intelligence Technologies that Changed History; and coauthor of Preventing Catastrophe: The Use and Misuse of Intelligence in Efforts to Halt the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction. Professor Hansen has a BA in History from Stanford University; an MA in International Affairs/Soviet Studies from The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies; an MA in Russian History from Stanford University; and an MS in Management from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business—Sloan Program.
Rae Huffstutler has a distinguished career in the Intelligence Community. He served as the Executive Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Director of the National Photographic Interpretation Center, and as the Director of Soviet Research at the Agency. Among his many accolades are twice being awarded the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal and in April 2003 he was inducted into the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) Hall of Fame for his contributions to imagery collection and intelligence. Rae received a BA in economics and an MA in international economics from the University of California, Berkeley. Rae is an active member and regular contributor and presenter of the National Security Forum. He lives during the snowless months, in lovely Incline Village.
Neile Miller, Vice President Government/Customer Relations and Strategic Partnerships Mission Support and Test Services, is based in Washington, DC. In this role, Miller she leads business planning, strategy and direction for increasing and expanding the NNSS’ strategic partnership activities. Miller is the former acting Undersecretary of Energy for Nuclear Security and former Principal Deputy Administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). During her tenure with the NNSA, she designed and led the organizational and operational transformation of the U.S. Nuclear Weapons Enterprise, for which she received awards from both the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Energy for Outstanding Public Service. Miller served two tours at the White House Office of Management and Budget, responsible for programs at DOE, the Department of Defense and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Miller holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Vassar College and a master’s degree in international affairs from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.
Dr. Thomas Carey, is a research scientist with graduate degrees in physics and business administration, certification in human organizational and systems development, and 45 years of postgraduate R&D, management and leadership in experimental physics and national security. Tom has extensive experience in the development and usage of forefront neutral and charged radiation sensors and associated instrumentation, enabling both basic science and applications related to the detection, location, and characterization of transient events with ground-, air-, and satellite-based systems for national security treaty monitoring and threat reduction nonproliferation programs. During 1980-2000 he fulfilled core scientific and technical roles in the development of four major new research programs in nuclear and particle physics. He subsequently became an experienced project manager for large collaborative international instrumentation programs, and chief scientist for national security systems development and sustainment. He is now a research professor with the Desert Research Institute supporting Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation programs.
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