This event is free and open to the public, but advance registration is required through Columbia’s Sundial system.

The Arnold A. Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies presents:

“Overkill: The Case for Reevaluating U.S. Nuclear Strategy”

with Christopher Preble and Benjamin Friedman, Cato Institute

moderated by Richard Betts, Director, SIWPS

The United States has far more nuclear weapons and delivery systems than deterrence requires, argue Christopher Preble and Benjamin Friedman. The triad of intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarine-launched ballistic missiles and bomber aircraft reflects bureaucratic Cold War planning, not strategic vision. Can the United States achieve an effective nuclear program which makes us safer, while adapting to the need for a smaller defense budget?

Christopher Preble is the Vice President for Defense and Foreign Policy Studies at the Cato Institute. He has published three books on American security, including most recently The Power Problem: How American military Dominance Makes Us Less Safe, Less Prosperous and Less Free (Cornell University Press, 2009). Dr. Preble previously served as an officer in the U.S. Navy. He holds a Ph.D. in history from Temple University.

Benjamin Friedman is a Research Fellow in Defense and Homeland Security Studies at the Cato Institute. He co-edited, with Dr. Preble and Jim Harper, Terrorizing Ourselves: Why U.S. Counterterrorism Policy Is Failing and How to Fix It (Cato Institute, 2010). Mr. Friedman is a Ph.D. candidate in Political Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.