joined the institute for policy studies about eight years ago i was in senior policy adviser to the secretary of energy and i did that for six years and while at the energy department as you noted i did a lot of did several things that including. going to north korea and trying to secure the spent fuel there and. was also involved in and strategic management of nuclear materials for the department. worker compensation for workers put in harm's way who made nuclear weapons those kinds of things and then for five years before that i did more or less full time oversight and investigations on the civilian and military nuclear programs. for the senate committee on government affairs which was then chaired by senator john glenn and he was quite interested in and this and was also a senior member of the senate armed services committee so i had to do sort of dual duty before that i worked for thirteen years. for a national environmental advocacy group and that has since. gone away i guess called the environmental policy institute and worked in. before that and three level jobs in congress and you kno

eyes conversations with great minds i'm joined by robert alvarez senior scholar at the institute for policy studies for five years mr alvarez served as one of the summits primary step experts on nuclear weapons and helped establish the environmental cleanup program for the department of energy he also led teams to north korea to establish control of nuclear weapons materials in that country in light of the largest radiation detection at the ichi plant japan is dealing with what may well turn out to be one of the worst nuclear crises on record to share his expertise on that and that whole spectrum of situations mr alvarez joins me here in the studio robert alvarez welcome to the program thank you for having me on your show thanks for joining us you know people who have done things as consequential as you have in your life were really just popped out of nowhere i'm curious how did you get on this career path what brought you through to this one. well i mean you weren't bacteria facts were were cracked words. before i. joined in some for policy studies about eight years ago i was a senior policy advis

powers away not whether to get involved phyllis bennis director of the washington based the institute for policy studies military intervention is unrealistic and its recent posturing is just. this is an old story in washington where humanitarian intervention is the excuse of the day i don't think we're going to see the possibility of troop deployments or even that's a sara lee shift involvement i think this is partly a show of force to intimidate gadhafi and to make nice as it were to the new leadership that will be rising in libya to create a new government when gadhafi is overthrown there is no doubt that people in washington and london and elsewhere are scurrying around desperate to figure out ways of ensuring that they get in on the ground floor with these new these new governments that are going to be in power there are oil companies that it chevron and b.p. rather than russian or chinese or other oil companies the people of libya face an even harder challenge than then the people of egypt and tunisia and other countries that have existing governmental institutions in place that they can take over

so could this be get another instance of go it alone phyllis bennis is a fellow at the institute for policy studies and joins me now to discuss and phyllis you know we saw little talk about this being history repeating itself libya at the start of libya looking sort of like two thousand and three iraq your comment to us i think the conditions are very different and i think the circumstances facing policymakers in washington are very different that doesn't mean there's no danger it doesn't mean that there's no possibility that someone will make the insane decision to send troops what i think is more likely is that there will be an effort to respond to demands that have been made by some members of the opposition asking for a no fly zone that will be harder to argue against not because it will work we remember i think people in the entire region remember what happened with a no fly zone in iraq hundreds of civilians were killed by the enforcement of that no fly zone that hasn't changed i think libyans remember very well what happened in one thousand nine hundred six when the u.s. came to attack could

bushel europe correspondent more now on libya for metal show moves senior analyst from the institute for policy studies joining us from maryland in the us they're going to evening the u.s. president says all options are still of the consideration of libya the no fly zone is still possible as we quote slowly tighten the noose around gadhafi how possible is a military solution to the region do you think well it's still possible by the europeans but i think the united states has backed away from military intervention there harbor a wait and see out if your best moment even though they still quiet all options are on the table but the european nations as you just said they are considering no fly zone however made to. decide that they will not take even that action without your and resolution being approved by the united nations and i think that's a wise decision on may those parts but what about nato draw in resolving the libyan crisis there's a kind of an impression isn't it that the alliance and its allies don't really know what to do but is true because the ground war is not really clear. there is some c

our troops phyllis bennis director of new international internationalism project at the institute for policy studies thank you. well we've previously reported on the growing gap between the rich and the poor in the united states in light of the economic crisis now as food prices continue skyrocketing we take a look at how this is playing out in two very different spectrums the very lucky few versus the many more who are a lot less fortunate artist and it's not going to take a look at the dinner tables of two very different america. america the land of plenty but these days that twenty is only reaching a few with one country split into two planets it's a tale of two americas right now new york city a place where the number of people on food stamps this story in a record three million it is also a place where one hundred seventy five dollars by wall street fat cats a burger a black truffles and meanies with gold we were marching for ten thousand dollars at an exquisite new york hotel at ten thousand dollars a month costar mark because the crying is basically buying the experience this is you know if y

and that was phyllis bennis director of new internationalism project at the institute for policy studies. so if you hear is now a story about trust or rather a sign that it could be fading even among those within the u.s. government as you may have heard a new report in rolling stone magazine says a general in the u.s. army has ordered his soldiers to use psychological operations on u.s. congressman visiting afghanistan to try to secure more military funding and support for the war and it's a story that has caused quite a sir stir and may have some far reaching implications and it's a chicken has the report were u.s. lawmakers brainwashed by the military when making key decisions on supporting the escalation of war in afghanistan that's a question posed by rolling stone magazine which alleges lieutenant general william caldwell the man in charge of training in afghanistan ordered psychological operations against visiting senators and congressional delegations community relate them into backing more funding and troops for the war there the head of a special unit that conducts psychologica

robert alvarez who's with the institute for policy studies. >> nature has a way of greatly exceedingentific assumptions and statistics and engineering judgment of the nuclear industry. there is no nuclear renaissance. i think that we are looking at a more roe bund industry that's going to stay that way in this country. >> reporter: the nuclear industry in the u.s. may be awakening from a long slumber just in time to grable with a dreaded light mare. >> ifill: the evening the nuclear regulatory commission voted to conduct new safety reviews in response to the japan disaster. >> lehrer: next, the north african nation of morocco tries to get ahead of the protests sweeping the arab world. ray suarez has the story. >> reporter: the sound has become familiar-- voices, clamoring for change. the demands are similar, too-- for work; for more power to the people; for a clean-up of widespread corruption. >> ( translated ): today, we are here to say that we are all moroccans. we love our country; we love our king, but we are against corruption and economic and political monopoly. >> ( translated

that debate with emira woods, co-director of the foreign policy in focus program at the institute for policy studiesthink tank in washington. and mansour el-kikhia, chair of the department of political science at the university of texas at san antonio. he's a long-time libyan human rights activist. professor el-kikhia, what do you think? should the rebels be armed? >> well, i'm an advocate, of course. we've thought about this for a long time. in fact, i was talking to the head of the security forces in benghazi, the... any way, i talked to him and he gave me a list of things he needed and i supplied it to the american administration. and they're simple things like body armor, like hats, your hats and boots and from protection and they've been studying it for three weeks. now you can't win against qaddafi'sor mortar, he has tanks and rocket launchers. very, very tough indeed. and the american foreign policy is funny in this sense. they say qaddafi is legitimate on the one hand and then they don't want to do something about helping remove him. this is a decision america has to make. plus libyans, liby

now understand he's hanging his hat over the board of regents at the potomac institute for policy studiesfor think was the senior fellow, senior fellow and member of the board. during his career, mr. young has held numerous positions in the department of defense acquisition community including director of defense research and engineering in the office of secretary and assistant secretary of the navy for research and development and acquisition. mr. young, again, no stranger to capitol hill having served ten years as a staff member of the defense subcommittee of the senate appropriations committee. who were the chairs the worked for? >> [inaudible] >> i worked for senator stevens and sandra inouye at different times, mr. turney. >> and sadr inouye is still with us and going strong. during your tenure at the department of defense mr. yondah oversaw among other things resistant and bush, protected vehicle program protection known as mrap and served the virginia class multi-year contract. mr. young will share the weapons system chief acquisition officer for the u.s. navy and for all of the de

robert alvarez is with the institute for policy studies. good morning to you. >> good morning. >> any time we hear the words "explosion" and "nuclear power plant" in the same sentence people fear the worst. we have seen two explosions at this plant. one in reactor number 1 and one in reactor number 3's building. put them in perspective for me. >> well, i think these events are unprecedented. i think that the evidence that's been made public as to what's happening there indicates that the reactor operators, the government probably with the help of the united states military are still wrestling to gain control over the situation. >> you know, one of the problems here is we seem to be getting conflicting information. let me read different pieces of information. officials say they have lost the ability to cool three of the reactors at daiichi and three others at a nearby plant. one said he thought unit 3 had partly melted telling a news conference, i don't think the fuel rods have been spared damage. a chief cabinet secretary said reports of a

there was a major, for example, study by the public policy institute of california last year that evaluated california's enterprise policy, which is the largest economic development policy, state and local, in the country, and found that it created no new jobs on average. on average means some places it does and some places it does not. but it is not, let's say, a reliable by double source of job creation. it does not work automatically. looking at the literature, there's three things to consider in doing a policy like this, to sort of checked to make sure that the details of the place and the policy match these best practices. one of which is to make sure that the only thing you are doing is not tax cuts. i believe in this case, and i believe as a detailed for you, the city has done a lot, and in the process of doing many of the things, and this is a complementary initiative. not simply throwing a tax cut in area in the hope that something will happen. it is, i think, one piece of the process of cattleization that might happen in the area. second, care must be taken to make sure you are no

thank you very much for joining us and welcome to the american enterprise institute. i am danielle pietka, a vice president for foreign policy studiesere at aei. i hope everybody is here for the same purpose, to discuss an event on libya -- what will odyssey don bring libya america, and the arab spring? we do have a sense at the moment of being in the middle of a great historical whirlwind. we are being taken somewhere. i think few of us are certain about where we are going to land. tonight, the president is going to address the nation for the first time from the oval office. he will speak on the topic of the war in libya. none of us are quite sure what is he is going to say, but i think many propose a lot of hope that he will express a clear sense of what the united states is to achieve what our goals are what our plans are for the future, and how we see libya fitting into the broader question of the revolutions that are going on, even as we sit here today, throughout the middle east and continuing to spread throughout syria continuing to royal yemen bahrain and elsewhere. it is difficult, i think for even seasoned experts to stay

studies? they said not that we are aware of. they also said the foreign policy institute is the one that makes the policy for every president. makes our policies? the foreign policy institute. we do not have a government. it is a facade. we are exporting because of the billions of people there want to have as customers. host: we will leave it there. talk about your trip to brazil with the president. why were you along with the president on the trip? guest: we do a lot of work with brazil. we announced a $1 billion credit to help them by services. in part to recognize the world cup and olympic games, they will need to reinvest millions of dollars in infrastructure. buses, ports, air-traffic control, i.t.. these are goods and services that we can sell. we are going back there next month to find ways that we can find american companies, working with the commerce department there, to make matchmaking and bring more american goods to brazil. host: our 10th largest trading partner. u.s. imports from brazil, 16th largest supplier to our country. so we are running a trade surplus with brazil. imports include mineral oil, fuel, $2 bi

for north east asian policy studies. he has distinguished degree air in the government to -- he has a distinguished career and government as a director of the american institute in taiwan, which handled america's diplomatic relations. he has authored many books on east asia. his latest book is called "the perils of proximity." next to them is a senior fellow in the economics program and the global economy and development program. his research focuses on economic growth in developing countries and is the author of many studies in this area. he was the director of the president's council on price stability is back in the 1970's. he has taught at berkeley and at harvard. next to him is the director of our internal project that focuses on humanitarian affairs and the impact of natural disasters. her latest book is the politics of protection, the limits of humanitarian action. isally, on the far rights, the director of energy security initiative, who is an expert on a whole range of security issues. he is an expert on nuclear energy issues. i wanted to start to first by having a conversation between the catalyst and then we will -- between the panelists and then w

for coming to this very informative talk. [applause] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> good afternoon and welcome again to the cato institute. i'm michael cannon director of our health policies studies here at cato. you received your law lecture and today we're going to move to the debate portion of this conference on the patient protection and affordable care act. the health care law that was passed by the house of representatives one year ago today. and signed in law by president obama one year ago this coming wednesday. this panel is comprised of some distinguished experts on various aspects of the health care law. we're going to hear from them about this law's impact on health care markets, labor markets, and the federal and state government's budgets. leading us off kavita patel at the englebert system reform at the brookings institution. she's also a former director of policy for the white house office of public engagement and intergovernmental affairs. you may have seen some of her viral videos about the health care law. you may remember them from during the debate. the legislative debate over this law. and she's also a former deputy staff director for the senate health educa