KNOXVILLE — Former Ambassador Thomas Graham Jr., a world-renowned authority on nuclear nonproliferation, will discuss the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) in the larger context of the strategic arms control during a luncheon lecture on Feb. 8.
Sponsored by the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, the event will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Toyota Auditorium at the Baker Center, 1640 Cumberland Ave.
The event will also be webcast live at http://tinyurl.com/4z5c9yf.
The New START treaty emerged from a 2009 summit between President Barack Obama and Russian Federation President Dmitry Medvedev and was negotiated to replace the START I treaty which was nearing expiration. Taking nearly a year to complete, it was signed by Obama and Medvedev in April 2010 and passed after much debate by the U.S. Senate on Dec. 22, 2010.
Graham’s ambassadorial post was as Special Representative of the President for Arms Control, Nonproliferation and Disarmament, 1994-1997.
Graham is internationally known as a leading authority on international arms control and agreements designed to limit and combat the proliferation of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. He was involved in the negotiation of every major international arms control and non-proliferation agreement involving the United States between 1970 and 1997.
Graham is now the executive chairman of the Board of Lightbridge Corp., a McLean, Va.-based company which holds patents on a new type of nuclear power fuel based on thorium. Lightbridge has conducted its research and development work at the Kurchatov Institute in Moscow.
Graham has written articles for scholarly journals and major newspapers, and he has authored five books. Graham received a bachelor’s degree in 1955 from Princeton University and a law degree in 1961 from Harvard Law School. He is a member of the Kentucky, District of Columbia and the New York bar associations and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
His numerous awards include the Meritorious Honor Award from the U.S. Department of State.
The cost of the lunch event is $15 and is payable by cash or check on the day of the event. To reserve a spot, go to http://tinyurl.com/4u4jq2r, and for more information, call 974-0931.
Parking is available for a fee in the Carolyn P. Brown University Center parking garage on Phillip Fulmer Way.
CONTACT:
Amy Gibson, (865-974-3816, agibson1@utk.edu)