Former U.N. Chief Weapons Inspector and Australian Ambassador to the United States
Richard Butler's job in Iraq was to navigate a perilous war-zone and discover the truth about weapons of mass destruction. He succeeded, though at times tensions were high, and now he is one of the foremost experts on the pressing issue of global security. Exclusively represented by Leading Authorities speakers bureau, Butler presents to audiences his immense wellspring of knowledge about the world's terror threats and what is required to create a safer future for everyone.
Facing down Saddam Hussein. In his book, The Greatest Threat: Iraq, Weapons of Mass Destruction, and the Crisis of Global Security, Butler describes his experiences, from 1997-79, as executive chairman of the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) charged with the disarmament of Iraq. He is poised and eloquent, and his writing and speaking engagements are lauded for telling it like it is. He discusses the helplessness of being the victim of Saddam's "elaborate shell game," the threat to him and his team of weapons inspectors while they were in Iraq (which eventually booted them out of the country), and the realities of global terrorism for each and every one of us.
Butler has spent his career in the service of Australia - and the world at large. In the early years, he was posted at various Australian embassies around the globe and even served as Australia's first Ambassador for Disarmament in Geneva and was charged with conducting all Australian disarmament negotiations. With a gift for diplomacy and a cool head, he worked his way to the appointment of Australian Ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations in New York. All of this landed him in Iraq and the national spotlight.
Dedicating his life to cooperation. Butler was deeply involved in the negotiation of the Cambodian peace agreements in 1991. At the UN, he established UNAIDS--the global AIDS program. In 1996, he managed the adoption by the UN of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. After his Australian and UN appointment, he was a diplomat in residence at the Council for foreign relations in New York.
Richard Butler possesses in-depth knowledge and expertise on today's most pressing global issues. He addresses them with rare insight, creativity, and wit. He is the author of several books including Saddam Defiant: The Threat of Weapons of Mass Destruction and the Crisis of Global Security and Fatal Choice: Nuclear Weapons and the Illusion of Missile Defense. Butler puts terrorism, global security, and nuclear disarmament on display and in perspective for his audience, leaving them riveted.
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A New Definition of Security. Since the end of the Cold War the very notion of what threatens and constitutes national security has been radically transformed. Decolonization, the spread of globalization, and the emergence of new powers - China, India, Brazil, for example - have altered our security challenges. Many of these key challenges are multi faceted, and are often both of a non-military kind and unable to be addressed solely by military means. Richard Butler reveals that the US, and others, must develop and implement policies that are more sophisticated and more complex than ever before to meet contemporary challenges. This includes the slippery target of defeating the goals of non-state actors and terrorists. Butler will examine the future of security and likely scenarios for the months and years to come.
Nuclear Weapons Proliferation. The spread of nuclear weapons has been contained for over 45 years mainly through the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty. Richard Butler, former UN Chief Weapons Inspector, reveals that this treaty is now under great pressure. Three non-member states - Israel, India and Pakistan - have created nuclear weapons and have now received de facto recognition by the US as nuclear weapons states. The five formally recognized nuclear weapon states are criticized for not having adequately kept their part of the NPT bargain - to progressively eliminate their nuclear weapons. And there are also attempts by North Korea and Iran get nuclear weapons. Butler explains that the continued existence of nuclear weapons provides only dubious security to those who have them, and poses the most evident threat to the extinction of life on, and the environment of, our planet. Action is urgently required to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, to reformulate the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty, and establish a universal agreement leading to the outlawing and elimination of nuclear weapons.
The Return of Nuclear Energy. There has recently been an astonishing shift by many environmentalists to support nuclear energy. This is based on several factors - deeper concern about global warming, sky-rocketing oil prices, and the apparent inability of consumers of energy in both the developed and the developing world to exercise restraint. While plans to rejuvenate old reactors and to build new ones should reduce pollution and emission of greenhouse gases, there will also be new environmental hurdles. Richard Butler examines the problem of radioactive waste lasting millions of years, and the generation of uranium and plutonium, the materials uniquely able to fuel nuclear weapons. This presentation will examines the challenges and opportunities that come with nuclear energy, and reveal that the need for more effective nuclear safeguards is more important than ever before.
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