Choubey Calls for Public Engagement on WMD Issues

NTI's Deepti Choubey sat down with Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Countryman and "Conversations with America" moderator Cheryl Benton to discuss the most pressing global threats, how to engage the next generation of experts in these issues and NTI's role in combating WMD proliferation.

"We look at where there are capacity gaps and try to fill them," Choubey said, speaking about NTI's role in global threat reduction.  "We can do direct action projects where we demonstrate what needs to be done and either because of political will issues or resource issues, governments may not be taking the lead, but we can pave the way for them."

Choubey and Countryman both emphasized the opportunity for the next generation presented by President Obama's April 2009 Prague speech, urging citizens to take an active interest in these very relevant issues. 

In addition to answering questions posed by citizens via social media tools, the trio discussed the successes of the NPT, the lessons learned from South Africa's decision to give up its nuclear weapons program and how real the threat posed by nuclear weapons and weapons-usable nuclear materials really is, among other topics.

Watch the conversation.