Podcasts. In our final program looking back for president george w. Bushs decision to increase troop levels in iraq, scholars offered their analysis of the surge. From Southern Methodist university this is almost two hours. So its my pleasure to introduce the chair of this panel who is the executive director of the center at the university of texas at austin. And he has, i think, not unique but certainly worth while perspective, duel perspective of being a person who has both studied Decision Making in the white house and been part of Decision Making in the white house. He was a valuable member of really making the Network Connections and the interviews that are the underlying factor and underlying base of this project work. Will, i thank you for. That i turn the mike over to you. Thank you very much, jeff. Im honored to be moderating this panel here with four very dear friends and valued colleagues. There is a concern afoot that as a moderator i may let i got to my head and try toint
Good evening, everybody. Im bradley graham, coowner of politics and prose along with my wife, lissa muscatine, and on behalf of her but here welcome your think you very much for coming. We are very y pleased to have pl richter with us here this evening. Paul and i crossed paths a lot when i was a journalist with the Washington Post covering the pentagon and he was reporting for the Los Angeles Times based in washington. Over several decades paul wrote about National Security and Foreign Policyy on both the pentagon and then the state department beat come and heal other important assignments for the times before leaving the paper about four years ago. Paul was seen as one of the journalistic prose of reporting in this city on National Security affairs and in his new book, the ambassadors, he applies his Extensive Knowledge of americas National Security establishment to highlighting the valuable roles played by some veteran diplomats. He singles out four in particular, ryan crocker, robe
Unthermal nuclear war. It was a big deal at the time. And so now to go back and listen to what has happened to Nuclear Weapons from truman to trump is, is really, really remarkable. Our author grew up in the midwest in kansas, went to Oberlin College thinking he was going to be a lut major lit major, but watergate changed him to political science. And then he went on to graduate school at mit, and it was International Relations and Nuclear Strategy. Then he moved to washington as a defense policy adviser for the house of representatives. But, you know, government work being what it is, he decided that wasnt for him. So after a couple of years he left and wrote his really widelyacclaimed book the wizards of armageddon an inside history of Nuclear Strategy. He then spent time, he joined the boston globe because they were looking for experts in defense and that sort of thing and stayed with the boston globe for 20 years. He was bureau chief in moscow, bureau chief in new york city. By the
Program. Good evening everyone. Its a pleasure to welcome you for our program. If you could put away our cell phones, we would appreciate it. If you are wondering why there are bright lights in here, you are going to be on tv. Im kidding, the speaker is going to be on cspan. When we get to the q a, wait until we bring the mic to you. The speaker will repeat the question so you can hear it. Our speaker is teaching at columbia and working for David Rockefeller he joined the cia in 1980 nine and became a Political Leadership analyst on the middle east. He moved to the history staff in 1996 and was appointed chief historian of the cia in 2005. And his biography as director of Central Intelligence was recently declassified. His articles and book reviews and technical collections have appeared on studies in intelligence and intelligence in National Security and the oxford handbook of intelligent security. He has taught intelligence history at George Mason University and georgetown university
One cia director, george h. W. Bush, later became president himself. The Smithsonian Associates hosted this program. Good evening, everyone. My name is ruth robbins. Its a pleasure to welcome you here tonight for our program. A couple of quick things first. One is, if you could, please put away your cell phones, turn them off, silence them, any electronic devices, we would appreciate it. If youre wondering why bright lights in here, because youre all going to be on tv. Cspan is taping tonight. Im kidding, youre not going to be on cspan, the speaker will be on cspan. When we get to the q a, they usually want to bring a mic down so they can record it. So if you have a question, just try to wait until they bring the mic to you so we dont have to repeat it. The speaker will repeat the questions so you can hear, but this is so they can hear it or however they work it. Our speaker tonight is david robarge, received a phd at columbia university. After teaching at columbia, working for banker