i'm going to say a few words, and turn it over to vice admiral robert monroe, retired. former director on many other distinguished positions he held in the navy and in the defense department. the former director of the defense nuclear agency. an agency that is no more, sadly, reflection i think of a lack of seriousness about the nuclear enterprise that has emerged since he left government service. bob is an expert among other things on the underpinnings of the nuclear deterrent, industrial technological scientific. and we will hear from him shortly about the sort of context in which our conversations are taking place today. we will then hear from my colleague, peter huessy, who is the president of geostrategic analysis that he is better known here in washington as the man who runs a marvelous breakfast for the national defense university foundation that are really, among the most serious venues in washington for considering in hearing from those responsible for the strategy, the programs, policies affecting nuclear deterrence and missile defense and related issues. and

let me welcome fis animal robert monroe -- limit welcome vice admiral robert monroe. >> thank you foroming. i believe this administration's nuclear weapons policy and programs art seriously misguided and dangerously ill advised. those of us who hold these views must speak out so the stakes can be corrected. i will limit my comments here today to four topics. first, a world without nuclear weapons is neither a achievable nor desirable. second, develop doing nuclear weapons is exactly the wrong way to gut -- devaluing nuclear weapons is the wrong way to go. the number one weapons threat facing the world must be stopped. , but totally misunderstood. -- deterrence is vital but totally miss understood. this has become a national goal, but no one can describe how. no one knows how to remain there when nuclear weapons technology it is widely understood and the material will progressively become more available. no one can imagine how to verify the absence of nuclear weapons in other states and organizations. it is highly inadvisable to establish a national goal without knowing how to meet it.