Strategic Weapons in the 21st Century

2009 Conference Summary

The third annual Conference on Strategic Weapons in the 21st Century (SW21) took place on January 29, 2009, at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, DC. The conference was co-sponsored by Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories and hosted by their respective Directors, Dr. Michael Anastasio and Dr. George Miller.

(L-R) James Schlesinger, Secretary of Defense; William Perry, Secretary of Defense; Michael Anastasio, Director LANL; George Miller, Director LLNL

Topics and Speakers

The conference covered the following topics with the listed speakers. Click on each name to read a summary of the talk.

• Congressional Perspectives
  --Senator Jeff Bingaman
  --Senator Jon Kyl
• View from STRATCOM:
  --Vice Admiral Carl V. Mauney
• View from NNSA
  --Thomas D'Agostino
• Forces, Infrastructure, and Science & Technology: Options for Hedging
  --Sidney Drell
  --Richard Mies
• International Dynamics, Policy and Strategy: Assessing Risk and the Need to Hedge
  --Keith Payne
  --Michael Nacht
• Key Issues from Contemporary Studies and Commissions
  --William Perry
  --James Schlesinger
  --John Day
• Roundtable Discussion: the Path Forward
  --Larry Welch
  --John Hamre
  --Open Discussion

Other SW21 Conferences

• SW21 2010
• SW21 2008
• SW21 2007

2009 Conference Details

• Conference Location:
• Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, Washington DC
• Conference Date:
• January 29, 2009
• Organizing Committee:
• National Security Office, LANL
• Center for Global Security Research, LLNL

Supplemental Reading

• How Much is Enough? A Goal-Driven Approach to Defining Key Principles (pdf), Dr. Keith Payne
• Stewarding a Reduced Stockpile (pdf), Bruce Goodwin and Glenn Mara
• SW21 2009 Background Sources (pdf)
• Technical Issues, Nuclear Weapons Stockpile (pdf), Marvin Adams and Sid Drell
• The US Nuclear Weapon Infrastructure and
  a Stable Global Nuclear Weapons Regime (pdf), John D. Immele and Richard L. Wagner
• Time for a Systematic Analysis: U.S. Nuclear Weapons and Nuclear Proliferation (pdf), Christopher F. Chyba