at that time senator nunn you travel to the soviet union. u with mr. gorbachev at a time when he just survived a military coup. talk us through that because i want to start the narrative at a place we understand what was at play. >> thank you james. it's great to be here and first i want to thank "national journal," george washington university, the nunn school and bill potter who moderated and all the people who made this anniversary possible today. i was in budapest at a meeting actually relating to sort of an east-west dialogue and dave hamburg who is in the audience today was head of carnegie at that time and they sponsored meetings with members of parliament and leaders from the soviet union as well as the united states as well as europe, meeting together. during the middle of the meeting in budapest hungary our russian friends, then so be it friends, got on a plane and went back because gorbachev had been taken captive. it was an attempted coup. about two days later after one of my friends by the name of andre had left, he flew back in an emergen

nunn-lugar-domenici fall that. pete helped stimulate the work between the laboratories in the department of energy. i consider him a huge partner and all of this. >> it is great to have him here. >> you had the vision of the threat. you passed the nunn-lugar 86-8. 2 weeks later, the soviet union collapses. you get the thing implemented. are you sure that was washington? [laughter] >> of course it was. >> you have a long memory, too, senator. what arguments did you use to convince the russians? you talked about, yes there russians and the security services that knew there was a vulnerability here. but there were some really staunch, anti-american feeling and russian as well. the idea of opening up the nuclear apparatus to u.s. scientist was anathema to a lot of them. how did you get russia and other satellite states to embrace this thing? >> it was mixed, because a number of security officials realized what a problem they had. some of them had been over here talking to us about the dangers and the problem beforehand

about 30 years ago a fellow named sam nunn and he was the managing editor of the philadelphia enquirer the overnight name to me this science writer. and this was a terrific thing for me because i was working in a suburban bureau, and then i get to come down and work in the main office. particularly during the 1970's the enquirer was one of the preeminent newspapers in america . overnight i was one of the preeminent science writers in america, all of which was, of course, completely unmerited. it turned out that jim, and looking for a new science writer for the newspaper was going to the resin maze of everyone on staff, and he noticed that i subscribe to scientific american. that is so i became a science writer. the truth of the matter is i was an english major in college, and i have started subscribing to scientific american precisely because i knew nothing of a science. i thought, well, helped also much of the modern world depends on science and technology, out to make an effort to understand these things. i think that magazine has done a lot better, but 20 or 30 years ago i could not

later, more live coverage as republican senator dick lugar and his former colleague, democrat sam nunn, assess their legislation passed 20 years ago that aimed to secure and dismantle weapons of mass destruction. >> also today the co-founders of the ben and jerry's ice cream chain speak at the national press club about their support for the occupy wall street movement. ben cohen and jerry greenfield will explain how business leaders can reduce economic inequality and bring about the changes being advocated by the movement's demonstrators. this event can be seen live later this morning at 10 a.m. eastern on c-span.t a >> next, newark, new jersey,li mayor coryke booker.. he recently spoke on behalf ofth presidente obama and his re-election campaign in manchester, new hampshire.f the event was co-hosted by the st. answer helm college creme cats and -- democratses and the group organizing for america. it runs about 50 minutes. [applause] >> i'm sorry, i just had to retreat christian there. how's everybody doing?i are we enthusiastic? are we excited? not for me though. [laughter]e look, i a

>> thank you, senator, and thank you for the suggestion of bringing to senator kirk and senator nunn does any other suggestions we might have. we will take that back and might consider that. as i said, we understand the concerns about china. it was the focus of the trip i made last week. to impress upon china the reality and a prompt action that was required on their behalf regarding a number of situations. my request for a special envoy bob faw einhorn to finally be welcome to china and to, in fact, follow through on the sanctions regime and the obligations, which we have not talked about enough in here. under the security council resolutions there are five resolutions that have passed. four have legally binding requirements. this is not just the united states request. this is the u.n. security council of obligation of states around the world. we have sanctioned 280 individuals and entities over the last few years. we, of course, think we should do more and better. in fact, when the qddr was written at the secretary clinton's request, one of the things that came out of that was to i

a nunn tour nuclear pos -- a miniature nuclear posture review, and it's important that the senate reaffirm its commitment to the nuclear triad once again. i'm particularly concerned by statements that we can reduce our nuclear arsenal significantly below the requirements laid out in the new start treaty. given the threats that we face and the responsibility that we have to the american people and to our allies, i believe we must retain the nuclear triad. the reasons are clear and compelling. we need missiles to protect -- to provide a persistent, dispersed and cost-effective deterrent. we need submarines to provide an invisible, mobile and survivable deterrent. and we need bombers to provide a visible long-range, recallable deterrent. the bottom line is that the triad provides us with a safe, credible, reliable nuclear deterrent that renders any effort to eliminate or sidestep our retaliatory capabilities completely meaningless. and those benefits accrue not only to the united states but to our allies as well. the congressional strategic posture commission, the resolution of the ratificati

the commission has concurred on nunn's additional recommendation -- on that additional recommendation. >> thank you. mr. chairman, up will you send me a letter, will you respond to questions i have about other recommendations? one is recommending the reactor technologies that would prevent the sort of hydrogen implosion we saw in japan. the other -- this is very important to my state -- it recommended that every 10 years nuclear reactor safety standards should incorporate any new information on the strength of earthquakes, as tsunamis, other natural disasters. please let me know your view, and please confer with the others to make sure you adequately represented there's. >> absolutely. >> there is a non-profit called the partnership for public service and they did a survey of more than to hundred 500 thousand played -- to enter 50,000 employees. of the last five years, nrc employees have ranked the nrc number one or number two. must be very pleased. it does not seem to indicate that you are the kind of person who goes around terrorizing people. >> i was very pleased. that is a strong