Announcement: National Security Website and CD-ROM

[Grace Agnew]

Everyone,

The Georgia Tech Library, in partnership with the Sam Nunn School of
International Affairs,  has made available today a website of presentations
from the annual Sam Nunn Policy Forum.  This forum, held annually and
co-sponsored by the Georgia Institute of Technology, the University of
Georgia and Emory University, brings together experts from academia and the
government in public policy areas of national concern. 

The 1997 forum, "Terrorism, Weapons of Mass Destruction and National
Security," includes videos and transcripts of participants such as former
Secretary of Defense William Cohen, discussing the preparation of U.S.
troops for terrorism at home and abroad, Senator Richard Lugar discussing
national preparation for domestic terrorism, Senator Nunn outlining a five
step plan to combat WMD and domestic terrorism, former CIA director, James
Woolsey, discussing biological weapons, and former Deputy Attorney General
Jamie Gorelick talking about the conflict of posse comitatus when the
military is called on to assist with domestic terrorism.

>From the 1998 forum, Information Security, Risks, Opportunities and the
Bottom Line, CIA Director George Tenet discusses the threat of
cyberterrorism and General Robert Tom Marsh discusses threats to the U.S.
infrastructure.

I was struck watching the news and seeing current interviews with these
national security luminaries, how similar their response today is to their
recommendations as presenters at the policy forums.  The policy forums, of
course, are much longer than the sound bytes on a T.V. interview.  

We have encoded the videos in both Quicktime and Real for different
bandwidths to make them readily available to anyone.  

  We are currently working on the 2001 forum, which brought together
high-ranking Russian government officials and scientists to meet with
government, business and academic leaders in the U.S. to discuss
partnerships and investments in Russia.  Those videos will be available in
both English and Russian in early October.

The Georgia Tech Library had the great honor to participate in a
grant-funded initiative intended in part to honor Senator Nunn and his
ongoing commitment to issues of National Security.   Senator Nunn is
currently a distinguished professor at Georgia Tech, among many other
activities, and continues to play a focused and proactive role in national
security.  One of his great interests is the education of high school and
university students in the issues and technologies behind weapons of mass
destruction, domestic terrorism and national security.  The Georgia Tech
Library collaborated with the Georgia Tech Interactive Media Technology
Center to produce a CD-ROM, "National Security and the 21st Century"
designed to provide background information on nuclear weapons, biochemical
weapons, cyberterrorism, the changing face of terrorism and domestic
preparedness.  One section, for example, provides an overview of the
different roles of each government agency in the event of a terrorism
incident directed at the U.S.  It was very heartening for me to see the
different agencies kick into gear like clockwork according to the plans
already in place from presidential directives of the previous administration.

Thanks to the Interactive Media Technology Center, the CD-ROM is very
interactive, with lots of graphics masking the fact that more than 400
pages of printable text are included that include relevant laws and
treaties, roles and responsbilities of each government agency, video
interviews and transcripts, etc.  National Security experts from the
University of Georgia and Georgia Tech supplemented material from the Sam
Nunn Policy Forums and provided technical oversight and background
documentation for the CD-ROM.  We were pleased to receive a silver award in
the Interactive Media category of the Axiem awards.

We have a limited number of extra copies of the CD-ROM which we want to
make available to any high school or university library or government
agency library on a first come, first served basis.  We are even waiving
the mailing fee.  At a time like this, we want to do the little we can to
build awareness among the general public because we agree with Senator Nunn
that an educated citizenry makes decisions from knowledge rather than fear.

If you would like a copy, please send me an email with your mailing address
to the email address above.

Grace Agnew