2020 Virtual Annual Symposium

 

The National Defense University's Center for the Study of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) invites you to join us on 17-18 June and 7 July 2020 for online Annual Symposium panels exploring how the convergence of geopolitics and emerging technology will shape today’s WMD issues. All online symposium content will be UNCLASSIFIED.

While COVID-19 transmission mitigation measures will prevent execution of this year’s event on the National Defense University campus, portions of the planned 2020 symposium agenda will be adapted to a webinar format accessible online to the government and non-government counter WMD community. (Message from Center Director)

The symposium, “WMD 2020: Great Power Competition and Technology Challenges,” takes stock of the new imperatives driving defense planning. The emergence of great power competition comes at a time of rapid and globally-distributed technological innovation that increasingly shapes the strategic and operational threat environment. For those in the security community focused on WMD threats, interest is growing about how the nexus of great power competition and dynamic new technologies is generating a shifting landscape of risk. The symposium seeks to promote a better understanding of this landscape by bringing together the perspectives of policy, operational, and technology experts, as well as senior leaders from the United States and its allies and partners.

Our series of virtual 2020 symposium events on 17-18 June are currently sold out. Please join us for three keynotes on 7 July 2020.

The series will begin with General John E. Hyten, USAF, Vice Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, from 0900-1000. General Hyten will discuss a number of strategic security issues related to nuclear weapons, WMD, and advanced technology, as well as his work as Co-Chair of the DoD COVID-19 Task Force. The session will be moderated by Paul Bernstein, Distinguished Policy Fellow, CSWMD. The second session from 1100-1200 will feature a discussion between Mr. Vayl Oxford, Director, Defense Threat Reduction Agency and Mr. Brendan Melley, Director, CSWMD. The third session from 1400-1500 will feature a discussion between Lt Gen Michael Minihan, USAF, Deputy Commander, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, and Dr. Shane Smith, Senior Policy Fellow, CSWMD.

Full symposium details, including the agenda and registration information, are available here. To attend the keynote sessions, RSVP below:

​0900-1000: General John E. Hyten, USAF, Vice Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff

1100-1200: Mr. Vayl Oxford, Director, Defense Threat Reduction Agency 

1400-1500: Lt Gen Michael Minihan, USAF, Deputy Commander, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command

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If you have any questions about the symposium, please direct your inquiries to WMDCenter_Symposium@ndu.edu.