John Jay College - Center on Terrorism

Shield New York Against Nuclear and Bio-Terrorism: A Call to Action
September 29 & 30, 2005
John Jay College of Criminal Justice
Gerald W. Lynch Theater, 899 Tenth Avenue

This major educational conference was held to examine the possibility of practical methods to prevent a nuclear and/or bio-terrorism attack on New York City to supplement meaningful efforts by the NYPD, the Port Authority, the TSA, and on the part of some scholars. The conference focused on meaningful discussions that included systematically addressing the international problems of loose nukes and untended stockpiles of plutonium and enriched uranium in the former Soviet Union; the inequitable and absurd allocation of counter-terrorism resources in the federal budget based on political considerations that in the end short-change the country’s primary target; and the complex local issues of effective protection of the ports, the subways and transportation network, and the airports. Sessions covered topics such as: What can corporations do? What is the role of the media? How vulnerable is the transportation infrastructure? How can we stop proliferation? How great is the threat of bio-terrorism? How can we prevent a nuclear terrorist attack?

Featured Speakers: Graham Allison, Harvard University; Jeremy Travis, President, John Jay College; Charles Strozier(Chair) Director, Center on Terrorism, John Jay College; Jonathan Schell, The Nation Institute; Stephen Flynn, Council on Foreign Relations; Joseph Cirincione, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; Kathryn Wylde, Partnership for New York City, Bob Hormats, Goldman Sachs; James McDonnellPresident, McDonnell Consulting Group, LLC; Bill Blakemore, ABC News; Chris Hedges, New York Times; John R. MacArthur, Harper’s Magazine; Michael Flynn, Associate Director, Center on Terrorism, John Jay College; Psychology Department, York College; Peter Clarke, Deputy Assistant Commissioner, London Metropolitan Police, Anti-Terrorism Branch; Robert (Buz) Paaswell, City University of New York; Governor Thomas Kean, Chair, 9/11 Commission, Marcia V. Keizs, President, York College; Sharon K. Weiner, School of International Service, American University; James T. Walsh, Harvard University; Laura H. Kahn, Princeton University; Irwin Redlener, Columbia University; Scott Atran, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and the University of Michigan; Harlan Kenneth, Senior Advisor, Center for Strategic & International Studies; and Charles Ferguson, Council on Foreign Relations.

The Second Nuclear Age: Nuclear Weapons▪The New Terrorism▪The Culture of Fear
December 3, 2004
CUNY Graduate Center, NYC

This conference examined how nuclear weapons and the massive collective fear of their use by states or terrorists have shaped consciousness and conflicts throughout the world for more than fifty years. Presenters included scholars, researchers, and experts on nuclear weapons technology, nuclear weapons proliferation, how nuclear weapons impact the environment, Islam and nuclear weapons, and forms of resistance and the anti-nuclear weapons movement. Sessions were conducted on the latest in new nuclear weapons, nuclear weapons and the war system, and resistance and survival in the second nuclear age.

Featured Speakers : Richard Falk, Princeton University; Jonathan Schell, The Nation Institute; Charles B. Strozier, Director, Center on Terrorism; Michael Flynn, York College and Associate Director, Center on Terrorism; Arjun Makhijani, Institute for Energy and Environmental Research; Ervand Abrahamian, Baruch College; Sohail Hashmi, Mount Holyoke College, David Krieger, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation; George Andreopoulos, John Jay College; Robert Jay Lifton; Harvard Medical School, Kai Erikson, Yale University; Peter Kuznick, American University and Zia Mian,

The Second Nuclear Age Conference was co-sponsored by: The Center on Terrorism, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY Graduate Center, Continuing Education York College.

At the same time the Center on Terrorism held this Conference to examine the extent human rights were being eroded as a result of 9/11, on the other side of the globe Iraqi prisoners were being tortured by U.S. forces at Abu Ghraib. The conference examined the ethical, political, and legal issues of torture in a historical context in light of the new technologies. Spirited discussions at the plenary sessions addressed issues of torture in Israel and issues surrounding policing and coercive interrogation.

This international symposium presented a balanced view of the issues surrounding torture bringing together scholars from various disciplines, including law and ethics; and those with direct experience of torture; and practitioners from intelligence, law enforcement, and other areas who deal with the real world of counter-terrorism, to consider the new meanings of torture in an age of terrorism and apocalyptic violence.

Featured Speakers : Kenneth Roth, Executive Director, Human Rights Watch; Sister Dianna Ortiz, an Ursuline nun who was tortured in Guatemala in 1989, by Guatemalan forces, Executive Director, Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition; Alan Dershowitz of Harvard Law School; Lawrence Weschler, Director, Institute for the Humanities, New York University; Michael S. Moore, College of Law, University of Illinois; Richard Posner, Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh District and former Lee and Brenna Freeman Professor of Law at the University of Chicago; Joshua Rubinstein, Amnesty International; Allen Keller, Director, Bellevue/NYU Medical Center for Survivors of Torture; Elaine Scarry, Harvard University; Edward Peters, University of Pennsylvania; and Jennifer Harbury, Central American activist and author.