Sam Nunn Talks Nuclear Weapons And Terror Prevention

September 27th, 2016

Broadcast version of this interviewExtended version of this interview

National security and the fight against terror were two of the subjects that provoked some sharp exchanges in Monday night’s first presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

He charged that, as Secretary of State, she didn’t do enough to stop the growth of the so-called Islamic State; she blasted his complimentary statements about Russian president Vladimir Putin, saying it shows he doesn’t understand the kinds of threats facing the U.S.

Meanwhile, the current administration of President Barack Obama is trying to deal with all of this, and organizations like the Nuclear Threat Initiative are keeping an eye on it.

Former Georgia Democratic Sen. Sam Nunn is a co-founder of the NTI. Georgia Tech named its Sam Nunn School of International Affairs after him. Last week, it hosted a policy forum on addressing the underlying causes of international extremism.

One point the military and academic experts brought up: the causes of extremism are at the grass roots, in things like education systems in many countries. So, many solutions must be at the grass roots, too.

In a conversation on “Morning Edition,” host Denis O’Hayer began by asking Nunn whether people-to-people terror prevention efforts could be jeopardized by the war against ISIS — if the war makes it easier for terrorists to radicalize young people in the region.

The conversation also touched on the U.S. relationship with Russia, and the expanded version includes a look at the threat posed by North Korea’s increased nuclear weapons testing.

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