Global Security Seminars

PSR-LA Ambassadors and Staff at the Global Security Dinner featuring Congressman Howard Berman, Chair of the U.S. House of Representatives For-eign Relations Committee. (Pictured Left to right) Natalia Koteva, Bill Perkins MD, PSR-LA Board of Directors; Shirah Vollmer MD; Martha Dina Arguello, Executive Director; Congressman Howard Berman; Stephen Coles MD, PhD; Wayne Glass

PSR-LA Ambassadors and Staff at the Global Security Dinner featuring Congressman Howard Berman, Chair of the U.S. House of Representatives For-eign Relations Committee. (Pictured Left to right) Natalia Koteva, Bill Perkins MD, PSR-LA Board of Directors; Shirah Vollmer MD; Martha Dina Arguello, Executive Director; Congressman Howard Berman; Stephen Coles MD, PhD; Wayne Glass

PSR-LA is working to establish a new “security culture” in Los Angeles. Activists, scholars, elected officials, business-people, diplomats and PSR-LA physicians gain greater insight through these monthly seminars. Hosted by renown security scholar, Dr. Bennett Ramberg , lectures include such topics as Security and Global Climate Change, effectiveness of the International Criminal Court, the Impact of Infectious Diseases in War. See previous seminar topics and speakers below.

PSR-LA regularly offers other lectures and presentations on nuclear weapons and national security issues. See our calendar for upcoming events.

Sponsors

The Global Security Seminar is sponsored by PSR-LA and the much appreciated financial support of Richard Bernard, Jack Kaufman, Armin Satoff, Don and Judy Broder and Jack and Valerie Melmed and an anonymous  donor.

Martha Dina Arguello (Executive Director, Physicians  for Social Responsibility-Los Angeles
Michael Intriligator (Professor of Economics, Political Science and Public Policy, UCLA and former Director of the UCLA Burkle Center for  International Relations; Senior Fellow Milken Institute).
Bennett Ramberg (Seminar Director, is a former State Department  policy analyst.)

Organizers

  • Martha Dina Arguello (Executive Director, Physicians  for Social Responsibility-Los Angeles)
  • Michael Intriligator (Professor of Economics, Political Science and Public Policy, UCLA and former Director of the UCLA Burkle Center for  International Relations; Senior Fellow Milken Institute).
  • Bennett Ramberg (Seminar Director, is a former State Department  policy analyst.)

Previous Featured Speakers, 2002-2009

  • Gerald Kominski, Professor of Health Services, UCLA School of Public Health, “Whither Healthcare:  The Debate Over Reform,” August 2009.
  • Chaibong Hahm, Senior Political Scientist, RAND, “North Korea Power, Myths and Reality,” July 2009.
  • Rhodes Stephenson, former Director, Technology and Applications  Programs, Caltech’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and currently,  automotive technology Consultant “Beating the Energy Crisis and   Will the Hydrogen Car Beat theElectric Car to Be Part of the Solution?”
  • Victor Gilinksy, former Commissioner, US Nuclear Regulatory  Commission, “Can We Have World Wide Use of Nuclear Energy Without  Spreading the Bomb,” May 2009.
  • Michael Intriligator, Professor of Economics, Political Science and  Public Policy and Joel Kurzman, Senior Fellow Milken Institute, “The  Current Worldwide Financial and Economic Crisis,” April 2009.
  • Pamela Starr, Associate Professor of Public Diplomacy and  International Relations, USC and discussant John Sullivan, Lt. Los  Angeles Sheriff Department, “Fighting Mexico’s Drug Cartels:  Implications for the United States and Mexico.”
  • Asher Susser, Professor of Middle East History, Tel Aviv  University, “The War in Gaza: Ramifications for Israel, the  Palestinians and the MiddleEast,” February 2009.
  • Mike Chinoy, former Senior Asia Correspondent, CNN, “Bush, Obama  and the North Korean Nuclear Crisis,” January 2009.
  • Brian Jenkins, Correspondent Senior Advisor to the President of the RAND Corporation, “Will Terrorists Go Nuclear?  Their Fantasy, Our Nightmare,” December 2008.
  • Congressman Howard Berman, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs  Committee,House of Representatives, “Foreign Policy Challenges for  the NextAdministration  the View from Congress,” November 2008.
  • Nina Hachigian, Senior Vice President, Center for American  Progress, “Strategic Collaboration: How the US Can Thrive as Other  Powers Rise,” October 2008.
  • Gregory Townsend, War Crimes Prosecutor, Head of Office and Senior Legal Officer, Special Court for Sierra Leone, The Hague, “Prosecuting  War Crimes,” September 2008
  • Robert Scheer, Commentator and Editor-in-Chief, Truthdig.com, “The  Pornography of Power: How Defense Hawks Hijacked 9/11 and Weakened  America, July 2008
  • Mike Gray, author “Drug Crazy: How We Got Into This Mess and How We  Get Out” (Random House) and discussant Mark Kleiman, Professor  Public Policy, UCLA School of Public Policy,  “America’s Drug War:  Eating Us Alive,” June 2008.
  • Edward Gonzalez, Professor Emeritus, UCLA Dept. of Political  Science, “Fidel’s Long Goodbye: Implications for Cuba and U.S.  Policy,” May 2008
  • Stephen Tomlin, Vice President, International Medical Corps, “The Humanitarian Challenges of a Changing World,” April 2008.
  • Mikkie Weinstein, President, Military Religious Freedom Foundation, “Waging War Against an Evangelical Coup in America’s Military, March  2008
  • Abraham Lowenthal, Professor of International Relations, USC, “The  Riseof National Populist Governments and Movements in Latin America:  Implications for U.S. Foreign Policy,” February 2008.
  • Anne Chermak, Senior Foreign Service, Department of State, “The  State Department’s Role In Foreign Policy Making in the Decade Ahead,”  January 2008.
  • Sayed Ibne Abbas, Consul General of Pakistan, “Pakistan’s  Contribution to the War on Terror,” December 2007.
  • James Barth, Senior Fellow, Milken Institute on “China’s Economic  Competitiveness and Implications for the U.S. Economy in the Decade  Ahead.” November 2007
  • Philip Seib, Professor of Journalism, USC, “The Al Jazeera Effect:   How the New Global Media are Reshaping World Politics,” October, 2007.
  • Mike Shuster, Senior Diplomatic Correspondent, National Public  Radio, “Iran and Iraq: The View From the Ground, September 2007
  • Woodrow W. Clark, II, Senior Fellow, Milken Institute, “Energy  Security: A New Green Paradigm,” July 2007.
  • Jalil Roshandel, Associate Professor and Director of Security  Studies program at Political Science Department, East Carolina  University, “Jihad and International Security,” June 2007.
  • Richard Turco, Professor of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, UCLA, The Potential Consequences of ‘Small’ Nuclear War and Terrorism,” May  2007.
  • Mehran Kamrava, Professor, Political Science, California State  University, Northridge, “National Security Debates in Iran: Factionalism and Lost  Opportunities, April 2007.
  • Reza Aslan, Author (“No God But God,” Random House), “Terrorism and  the Global Struggle Against Puritanism and Violence in the Muslim  World, March, 2007.
  • Saree Makdisi, Middle East Commentator UCLA Professor of English,  “The Next Phase in the Israel-Palestine Conflict,” February 2007.
  • Ed O’Connell, Rand Corp., “What Went Wrong in Iraq,” January 2007.
  • Alexander Sakharov, author and former research associate at the  Soviet Institute for the USA and Canada, “Russia: The Misplaced  Key to   Stable World,” December 2006.
  • Stephen Flynn, Council on Foreign Relations, “Addressing the  Terrorist Risk: What is Next for Port Security,” November 2006.
  • Robert Young Pelton, investigative reporter and author, “Mercenaries  and Private Contractors in the War on Terror,” October 2006.
  • Rani Ali-Ahmad, Craftsman Capital Advisors and Alan Sawaya, Citigroup-Smith Barney, “The Future of Lebanon,” September 2006.
  • Col. Vito Imbascini, Ph.D., MD, “The Iraqi War from the  Perspective of a Frontline Physician” July 2006.
  • Kent Harrington, former National Intelligence Officer for East  Asia, Central Intelligence Agency, “Chinese Organized Crime:   Redefining the Threat and Recognizing the Reality, June 2006.
  • Peter Katona, UCLA School of Medicine, “Bird Flu–Global Pandemic or Manageable Risk,” May 2006
  • Bennett Ramberg, Center for Government and Public Policy Analysis,  “Combating Nuclear Proliferation in the 21st Century,” April 2006.
  • Neil Joeck, Livermore Laboratory and former Bush Administration  White House Counterproliferation Strategy Director, “Nuclear Weapons  and Nuclear Trade: Implications for the Indo-US Agreement for  Proliferation, March 2006.
  • Sebastian Zacharia, former Director, Division of Regional  Cooperation in Asia and the Pacific, United Nations Development  Program, “The United Nations: Addressing the Globe’s 21st Century  Challenges,” February 2006.
  • David Goodstein, Vice Provost and Professor of Physics, Caltech,  “Is the World Running Out of Oil,” January 2006.
  • George Quester, Professor of Political Science, University of  Maryland,“Justifying Preemption and Preventive War in the Post 9/11 Era:  What  History Can Teach Us,”December 2005.
  • Terry McDermott, Los Angeles Times National Reporter, “The 9/11  Hijackers:  Who Were They and Why they Did it,” November 2005.
  • David Aaron, RAND Corporation, “Promoting Democracy With Justice in  a Fractured World:  Is America Up to the Challenge,” October, 2005
  • Aaron Glantz, International Journalist, Pacifica Radio, “How  America Lost Iraq,” September, 2005.
  • Michael Intriligator, UCLA Professor of Economics, Political  Science and Public Policy, “Terrorists Use of WMD,” July 2005.
  • James McWilliams, Professor of Earth Sciences, UCLA & Member  National Academy of Sciences Panel on Global Warming, “Global Climate  Change and the Prospects for Planetary Management,” June 2005.
  • Alison Renteln, Professor of Political Science, USC, “Prosecuting Genocide Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity, War Crimes and Aggression:   Assessing the Performance of the International Criminal Court,” May,  2005.
  • Arnold C. Harberger, Professor of Economics, UCLA, “Challenges of  Economic Growth in Developing Countries,” April 2005.
  • Paul Holtom, MD, Professor, University of Southern California  Medical School, “Sanctions, Embargoes and War:  The Impact of  Infectious Diseases on Civilians,” March 2005.
  • Jeremy Azrael, the RAND Corp., “Effects of Increasing Russian Authoritarianism on Russian-American Relations,” February 2005.
  • Philip Coyle, former Assistant Secretary of Defense now with Center for Defense Information, “Car Bombs, Weapons of Mass Destruction, Mini- Nukes, and Terrorism:  Where is America Going on Homeland Security and  National Defense?” January 2005.
  • Pierre Larrieu, French Counsul General, “Franco-American Relations  After the U.S. Presidential Elections,” December 2004.
  • Greg Mello, Co-Founder of the Los Alamos Study Group, “Bush’s  Second Term–New Nuclear Weapons:  Absurd and Dangerous, or a  Management Necessity,” November 2004.
  • Ian Lesser, Vice President of the Pacific Council on International  Security, “Foreign and Security Challenges Confronting the Next  President.” October 2004.
  • Jack Weiss, Los Angeles City Councilman, “Local Homeland Security:  The City of Los Angeles Confronts Counter-Terrorism Challenges,”  September 2004.
  • Nake Kamrany, Professor of Economics, USC, “The Current Dilemma of Afghanistan,” July 2004.
  • Jack Miles, Pulitzer Prize winning author, “Islam and the West: Implications for U.S. Foreign Policy,” June 2004.
  • Ramiro Cibrian, Diplomat, European Community, “The Enlarged Europe  and its Common Security and Defense Policy,”  May 2004.
  • Wayne Glass, former foreign policy and national security staff  memberof the Departments of State, Defense and the U.S. Senate,  “National Security, Foreign Policy, and the Congress:  How Things Work (or Don’t)” April  2004.
  • Norman Levin, Senior Research Staff, the RAND Corp., “U.S. Policy Toward North Korea:  Challenges and Prospects,” March 2004.
  • Richard Hrair Dekmejian, Professor of Political Science at USC and International Business at the Marshall School, “Challenges for  Democratization in the Middle East,” February 2004.
  • Rachel Stohl, Senior Policy Analyst Center for Defense Information, Washington D.C., “Child Combatants:  A Non Traditional Threat to U.S. Security,” January 2004.
  • Michael Keane, Commentator and Author, “Guerrilla Warfare:  An Historical Perspective on How It May Defeat the United States in Iraq,” December  2003.
  • David Rapoport, Professor of Political Science, UCLA, “The Four  Wavesof Modern Revolutionary Terror:  A Generational Analysis,”  November 2003.
  • Raju Thomas, Professor of Political Science, Marquette University,  “The Most Dangerous Place in the World:  Indo-Pakistani Relations and  theRisk of Nuclear War,” October 2003.
  • Zvi Vapni, Deputy Consul General in the Consulate General of Israel  inLos Angeles, “The Future of the Arab-Israeli Road Map to Peace,”  September2003.
  • Jonathan Parfrey, Director, Los Angeles Physicians for Social  Responsibility, “The Future of the Peace Movement,” July 2003.
  • Richard Baum, Professor of Political Science and Chinese Studies,  UCLA, “Chinese Security in the Post 9/11 World and Implications for  the United States,” June, 2003.
  • Jean Rosenfeld, Senior Research Associate, UCLA Center for the  Study of Religion.  ”The Religion Factor in an Apocalyptic Age:   Implications for the Middle East,” May 2003.
  • Gregory Treverton, Senior Research Staff the RAND  Corp.,  ”Organizing the Intelligence of Homeland Security,” April, 2003.
  • S. David Freeman, Chairman of the State of California’s Consumer  Powerand Conservation Authority, “Energy and Security:  America’s  Energy Policyn the Aftermath of the War With Iraq,” March 2003.
  • Tom Plate, International Syndicated Columnist, “Global Security  from the Perspective of the World Economic Forum in Davos,  Switzerland:  Ideas and Impressions,” February 2003.
  • Mike Shuster, Diplomatic Correspondent for National Public Radio, “Iraq and North Korea:  First Test of the Bush Administration’s  NationalSecurity Policy,” January 2003.
  • Brian Jenkins, Senior Advisor to the President of the RAND Corp., “Countering Al Qaeda: Elements of Strategy,” December r 2002.
  • Dr. Martha Krebs, Former Assistant Secretary of Energy and Hon.  PhilipCoyle, former Assistant Secretary of Defense, “Cuba:   Biotechnology or Bioweapons?A First Hand Trip Report,” November 2002.
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