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William Perry: Nuclear Threats in a Chaotic World
February 23, 2017 • 7:00 pm PST
William Perry, former Defense Secretary, will talk to a LAWAC dinner on February 23rd about the escalating dangers of nuclear conflict in today’s chaotic world – dangers that are more urgent than most Americans realize. Vladimir Putin has begun upgrading Russia’s nuclear arsenal and last year stationed nuclear missiles on the borders of Poland and Lithuania. North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un has conducted two nuclear tests in the past year, and his scientists are working on a long-range ICBM missile that could reach Los Angeles. ISIS made four attempts between 2010 and 2015 to buy radioactive materials from Russian underworld gangs, according to the FBI, and other jihadist groups show continued interest in obtaining a nuclear bomb. Perry says “I believe that the likelihood of a nuclear catastrophe is greater today than it was during the Cold War.” Perry has joined with veteran statesmen Henry Kissinger and George Shultz to highlight a growing threat that most people assumed had disappeared after the collapse of communism, but could in an instant change the face of the planet forever.