Ploughshares-sponsored event on nuclear arms at Italian Embassy

Actor/director Michael Douglas moderated a panel on ridding the world of nuclear weapons at a Ploughshares Fund forum at the Italian Embassy in Washington, D.C.  Security experts including former Senators Chuck Hagel (R-NE) and Sam Nunn (D-GA), and diplomat Robert Gallucci, chief negotiator during the nuclear crisis with North Korea in 1994.

Douglas questioned Hagel about whether the new Obama administration has provided a transformational opportunity for the world's nuclear-armed nations to address the issue. He pressed Nunn on recent multinational conferences and his recent White House meeting with other former diplomats and President Barack Obama.  Gallucci told the forum gathered at the Italian Embassy that recent discussions between the United States and Russia hold promise, but the threat of nuclear terrorism is a legitimate concern, given the unrest in Pakistan.