Bulletin of the American Physical Society
2009 APS April Meeting
Volume 54, Number 4
Saturday–Tuesday, May 2–5, 2009; Denver, Colorado
Session X6: The Role of Scientists in Arms Control |
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Sponsoring Units: FPS Chair: Benn Tannenbaum, American Association for the Advancement of Science Room: Governor's Square 16 |
Tuesday, May 5, 2009 1:30PM - 2:06PM |
X6.00001: Dr. Inside and Dr. Outside: Physicists Involved With National Security and Foreign Policy Invited Speaker: Physicists have had a special interest in American national security and arms control since at least the Manhattan Project. They have served our country in uniform and in the career civil service. Some have left academic careers for brief periods to work as political appointees, consultants, or resident scholars and then returned to an academic life, but often with changed goals. Some have tried government life and left nearly immediately, while others dipped a toe in and decided to stay. I will look at real-life examples, mostly using real names, drawn from my career and circle of colleagues to try to explain why some physicists have been extremely successful, why others have not, and what happens to a physicist who moved to Washington and decides to stay. I will also discuss routes into public service for those interesting in giving it a try. [Preview Abstract] |
Tuesday, May 5, 2009 2:06PM - 2:42PM |
X6.00002: Progress in CTBT Monitoring since its 1999 Senate Defeat Invited Speaker: Progress in monitoring the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) is examined, beginning with the 2002 National Academy of Sciences CTBT study, followed by recent findings on regional seismology, array--monitoring, correlation--detection, seismic modeling and non-seismic technologies. The NAS--CTBT study concluded that the fully--completed International Monitoring System (IMS) will reliably detect and identify underground nuclear explosions with a threshold of 0.1 kt in hard rock, if conducted anywhere in Europe, Asia, North Africa, and North America. In some locations the threshold is 0.01 kt or lower, using arrays or regional seismic stations. As an example, the 0.6--kiloton North Korean test of October 9, 2006 was promptly detected by seismometers in Australia, Europe, North America and Asia. The P/S ratio between 1--15 Hz clearly showed that the event was an explosion and not an earthquake. Radioactive venting, observed as far as Canada, proved that it was a nuclear explosion. Advances in seismic monitoring strengthen the conclusions of the NAS study. Interferometric synthetic aperture radar can, in some cases, identify and locate 1--kt tests at 500 m depth by measuring subsidence to 2--5 mm. InSAR can discriminate between earthquakes and explosions from the subsidence pattern and it can locate nuclear tests to within 100 meters. [Preview Abstract] |
Tuesday, May 5, 2009 2:42PM - 3:18PM |
X6.00003: Technology and Policy: Looking to the Future Invited Speaker: As the proper scope and nature of arms control continues to be debated, it is certain that technical capabilities and advice will play a significant role. While national priorities and strategic objectives and broader perspectives of international security and foreign policy will ultimately dictate, technical expertise and assessment is critical to the identification, development and evaluation of alternatives. Strategic linkages between arms control, nonproliferation, and homeland security have perhaps never been so intertwined. Incomplete information and strongly held but disparate views about the potential of science and technology to amplify threats as readily as they mitigate them creates a highly dynamic environment for policymakers. To contribute meaningfully scientists and engineers will have to remain engaged with national security debates and think about the strategic and policy environment in which technical questions are posed to them, and how to identify and frame the important questions that aren't. [Preview Abstract] |
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