Ambassador Thomas Graham Jr. will address community members, faculty and students at a Baker Center luncheon Tuesday at 11:30 a.m. His lecture is entitled “The Negotiation of the New START Treaty” and will center on last spring’s negotiations between the U.S. and Russia to limit nuclear arms.
“Graham will be the featured speaker at an ambassadorial luncheon, where he will discuss the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty ratified in January by the U.S. Senate in the larger context of the strategic arms control process,” Dr. Mike Fitzgerald, chair of the American Studies program, said.
Graham’s visit to the state will include various other objectives as well.
“Ambassador Thomas Graham is visiting East Tennessee to participate in the Women in Nuclear, Region II Conference being held on Feb. 6 through 9 at Oak Ridge National Laboratory,” Fitzgerald said. “In conjunction with the conference, Ambassador Graham will meet on Feb. 8 with UT faculty, members of the Baker Center Staff and officials from ORNL and the Y-12 National Security Complex to discuss the Baker Center’s Global Security Program.
“The revised START treaty includes restructured inspection and verification techniques for nuclear programs, but will still allow several thousand nuclear arms to remain stockpiled by each nation.”
“We are delighted to host Ambassador Graham as part of our Ambassadorial Lecture Series,” Carl Pierce, director of the Baker Center, said.
Both the U.S. Senate and the State Duma of Russia have ratified the treaty.
Controversy has recently been ignited around the negotiation of the START treaty, with Julian Assange’s Wikileaks pressing allegations that the United States released intelligence on Great Britain’s nuclear program to reach the agreement with Russia.
Graham is acknowledged as one of the foremost experts on international disarmament, specifically involving chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. Since the 1970s, he has been directly involved in negotiating U.S. weapons agreements at both the Strategic Arms Limitations Talks and the Strategic Arms Reduction Talks.
The ambassador was also instrumental in the negotiations of the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty extension (NPT), the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty, and Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
Currently, Graham is the executive chairman of the Board of Lightbridge Corporation. This organization is pioneering efforts to fuel nuclear power with thorium and carries out research efforts at Kurchatov Institute in Moscow.
He divides his time between his roles on the boards of Mexco Energy Corporation of Midland, Texas, and CanAlaska Uranium Ltd. of Vancouver, Canada.
The United Arab Emirates’ International Advisory Board has also enlisted Graham to keep its new nuclear energy projects non-proliferating and safe for the public.
Graham has been instrumental in the negotiations of the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty extension (NPT), the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty and Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
The luncheon is expected to draw a strong crowd from the Knoxville academic community, and the Baker Scholars students have been encouraged to attend the forum as well.
Tickets were sold in advance for the event and include lunch for the participants. If students would like to attend but have not elected to purchase tickets, seating will be provided for them in the back and along the sides of the auditorium.
