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Newsletter:  Fall 2004/ Issue 6
Puget Sound Speaks about Nonproliferation

by Ian Moncaster, World Affairs Council

Dr. Hans Blix, an internationally recognized figure and former director of the United Nations Monitoring, Verification, and Inspection Commission, spoke to a standing-room-only crowd in Seattle on April 27, culminating a month-long nonproliferation public outreach effort by the World Affairs Council and Pacific Northwest Center for Global Security.

Blix visited Seattle during a book tour for his best-selling book, Disarming Iraq. He addressed his professional experience with the International Atomic Energy Agency and the UNMOVIC inspection team in Iraq, emphasizing the importance of these activities to global security.

The Council and Center developed the month-long outreach program in the Puget Sound Region on nonproliferation and weapons of mass destruction. Capitalizing on the World Affairs Council’s on-going monthly initiative, Puget Sound Speaks: America in the World, a By the People program, the collaboration created an opportunity for members of the Council and the community at large to discuss proliferation prevention, weapons of mass destruction, and America’s role in the world through discussion groups, community events, print media, and radio and television programming. As a consequence, thousands of community members were exposed to discussion of these issues through the Seattle Post-Intelligencer’s full-page community discussion guide, KCTS television, and KUOW radio, in addition to more than 4,000 Council constituents and 1,800 K-12 teachers.

Following up on the Blix lecture, Seattle’s National Public radio station featured an interview with him and focused on weapons of mass destruction in its news program The Conversation. In addition, KCTS Connects, a current affairs call-in show on Seattle’s public television station, profiled weapons of mass destruction issues and brought together a panel of local experts from divergent viewpoints to debate the issues. Carol Kessler, Director of the Pacific Northwest Center for Global Security, participated on this panel.

A crucial element of the April Puget Sound Speaks Program was a survey, which measured what the informed opinions of the public were regarding the monthly topic. The survey was given to attendees of Blix’s lecture, participants in the discussion groups, and was also available on the World Affairs Council website.

Of those responding to the survey, 49.4 percent agreed strongly that "the United States risks losing credibility by treating nuclear powers differently, i.e., Iraq differently than Iran; Pakistan differently than North Korea; and Israel differently than India." A majority (56.3 percent) disagreed strongly that "the United States is justified in taking military action against a country having, or suspected of having, weapons of mass destruction." About two-thirds agreed (33.3 somewhat and 31 percent strongly) that "the United States should continue to provide federal money to find new jobs for former weapons developers in the Soviet Union and elsewhere."

The monthly Puget Sound Speaks: America in the World program was developed by the World Affairs Council to provide the community with opportunities to discuss the tradeoffs and underlying values of different foreign policy choices, and thereby weigh-in on the debate about the future of this country and the future of the world. The objective is to promote an informed and engaged electorate. It reflects the growing partnership between the Council and the Center to engage, educate, and involve our community on issues of national and international importance.

Puget Sound Speaks is a component of a new initiative of MacNeil/Lehrer Productions, By the People: America in the World, that aims to energize and enhance the national conversation on America’s role in the world through a series of national and local broadcasts and events that demonstrate the relevance of foreign policy issues to local concerns. The project includes three national PBS specials, two cycles of local programming to be produced by PBS stations in cooperation with community organizations, national and local forums for civic dialogue, and an interactive website.