The video for this event is now available at Columbia’s YouTube channel.

Ambassador William H. Luers and Admiral Eric Olson will discuss the Iran Project’s latest paper, “Weighing Benefits and Costs of Military Action against Iran.”

The paper is available from the Iran Project’s website.

Summary by the authors: At a time when debate on this critical issue is often driven by politics and based on unexamined assumptions about the ability of military action to achieve U.S. objectives, this paper seeks to provide a foundation for clear thinking about the potential use of force against Iran. The paper’s authors and signers, a bipartisan group of senior national security experts, recognize that this debate is part of a broader conversation about U.S. policy toward Iran. But we believe that it will be impossible to make a rational assessment of the role of military force in any overall Iran strategy, without first carefully assessing the likely benefits and costs of military action.

Ambassador William H. Luers is the Director of the Iran Project and co-author of “Weighing the Benefits and Costs of Military Action against Iran.” Previously, Amb. Luers served as President and CEO of the United Nations Association of the USA from 1999-2009. He worked for the Foreign Service for over 30 years, including as the U.S. Ambassador to Czechoslovakia (1983-86) and Venezuela (1978-82). He has been a visiting lecturer at the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton, George Washington University, and the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins.

Admiral Eric T. Olson is an Adjunct Professor of International and Public Affairs at SIPA, a senior adviser to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and NATO Special Operations Forces Headquarters, and an independent national security consultant. Admiral Olson retired from the United States Navy in 2011 after more than 38 years of military service, including as head of the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), where he was responsible for the mission readiness of all Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps special operations forces.