Category Archives: WPRB News Blog

Blog: Nuclear Security Summit Preview

Leave a reply

By: Walter Fick
White House Correspondent
WPRB News

WASHINGTON – Tomorrow marks the first day of the Nuclear Security Summit, but meetings are already planned for today as President Obama tries to reach out to other world leaders.  Administration officials hail the summit as part of a global effort to prevent nuclear terrorism and secure vulnerable nuclear materials.

To kick off the Summit, Obama will hold four bilateral meetings at the Blair House today with the leaders of India, Kazakhstan, South Africa and Pakistan.  A previously scheduled meeting with President Medvedev of Russia has apparently been delayed or canceled, though the White House has not yet commented on the schedule change.

On Monday, Obama will continue with at least four bilateral meeting, before individually welcoming each delegation to the Summit.  Tuesday will include the main activities, such as two planner recessions with the delegations and a concluding press conference.

Obama’s officials have emphasized the need for this conference to make headway in global nuclear security.  Obama has called the threat of nuclear terrorism one of his highest priorities and in the last week made two key steps towards improved nuclear security.  Both the newly released Nuclear Posture Review and the new START treaty are designed to lower international tensions related to nuclear weapons.  This week’s summit will draw much more focused attention on securing vulnerable nuclear materials and preparing countries to deal with the threat of a nuclear-armed terrorist.

“A nuclear weapon in the hands of a terrorist is a danger to people everywhere — from Moscow to New York; from the cities of Europe to South Asia,” Obama said on Thursday.  ”Next week, 47 nations will come together in Washington to discuss concrete steps that can be taken to secure all vulnerable nuclear materials around the world in four years.”

The promise to secure nuclear materials in four years was first made by Obama last year when he visited Prague to outline his plan for the future of nuclear weapons.  Getting all nations on board with the plan, however, may be extremely difficult.

Past attempts to increase security around nuclear weapons have yielded minimal fruit.  Some progress has been made, by converting many highly-enriched uranium reactors to using non-weapons grade uranium, but countries have often balked at US advice on how to secure reactors and testing sites.

One potential difference will be the new role of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).  The IAEA recently had added to its mission the role of providing assistance and guidelines on what is adequate physical security for holding nuclear materials.  Dr. Amano, the head of the IAEA, will be among those in attendance at the Summit.  A head-of-delegation lunch on Tuesday will also focus on the role of the IAEA and how the agency can assist countries.

“It’s very important that we try to endorse and strengthen the role of the IAEA in this area,” Gary Samore, the White House Coordinator for WMDs, Counter-Terrorism and Arms Control, said.

Administration officials hope that the Summit will get countries to the point of making firm declarations of their intentions to strengthen the security surrounding their nuclear materials.  Experts, however, warn that any advances in this area will likely be modest.

For more, tune in to WPRB 103.3FM at 12:30PM today to listen to an interview with nuclear security expert and Princeton University Professor Dr. Frank von Hilden, and be sure to check out wprb.com/news for more updates.

Blog: Frank von Hippel on Nuclear Security

Leave a reply
Frank N. von Hippel

Frank N. von Hippel

By: Walter Fick
White House Correspondent
WPRB News

WASHINGTON – President Obama signed the new START Treaty on Thursday with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Prague.  The agreement expands on the limits enforced by the original START Treaty, which expired in December.  The new agreement cuts the number of operationally deployable nuclear warheads down to 1,550, which is about a two-third reduction from previous levels.

The treaty also limits the number of deployable and non-deployable intercontinental ballistic missile launchers, submarine-launched ballistic missile launchers and heavy bombers to 800.  700 of these can be in a deployed status at any given time.

“When one surveys the many challenges that we face around the world, it is easy to grow complacent, or to abandon the notion that progress can be shared,” Obama said on Thursday.  ”But I want to repeat what I said last year in Prague: When nations and peoples allow themselves to be defined by their differences, the gulf between them widens.  When we fail to pursue peace, then it stays forever beyond our grasp.”

Last week President Obama also issued a new Nuclear Posture Review.  In it, he pledged for the first time that the United States would not use nuclear weapons against a non-nuclear state.  Exceptions were included, however, for rogue nations like Iran and North Korea that are in violation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

“Those nations that follow the rules will find greater security and opportunity,” Obama said.  ”Those nations that refuse to meet their obligations will be isolated, and denied the opportunity that comes with international integration.”

This week, Obama will continue with his nuclear security agenda by hosting the Nuclear Security Summit.  The Summit will include 47 nations.  It will be held Monday and Tuesday at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.  Administration officials say the primary focus will be the threat of nuclear terrorism and the need for securing vulnerable nuclear materials.

To gain further insight on these matters, WPRB News sat down with Dr. Frank von Hippel.  Von Hippel is a Professor at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and the Co-Director of the Program on Science and Global Security.  He has over thirty years experience specializing in nuclear security, nuclear arms control and nuclear nonproliferation.  A portion of his interview was broadcast as a Special Report on Sunday, April 11.

Click to Listen, Right Click to Download

Blog: Israeli FM Raises Tensions Over Palestinian Independence

Leave a reply

Here’s the first post from WPRB’s new Washington correspondent, Walter Fick, who will be posting on the latest headlines in international relations and the political goings-on of DC.  Check back early next week for Fick’s coverage of the Nuclear Security Summit at the Washington Convention Center.

photo credit: phogel

west bank street // photo credit: phogel

Avigdor Lieberman, Israel’s foreign minister, said in an interview today that attempts by Palestine to declare independence next year could lead Israel to revoke prior peace agreements and annex portions of the West Bank.  Though Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has not released any official response to Lieberman’s comments, an official reportedly said that Israel’s long-standing policy is to respond unilaterally to any unilateral Palestinian actions.

Lieberman also emphasized that Israel will continue with plans to build settlements in the West Bank and lashed out at Turkey’s government.  Israel and Turkey, another key US partner in the region, have strong economic and military ties but have been at odds Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan censured Israeli military actions in Gaza.

Lieberman told an Israeli newspaper that Erdogan’s actions have damaged decades of “excellent” ties between the two nations and that the Prime Minister is “slowly turning into Gadhafi or Hugo Chavez (the leaders of Libya and Venezuala).”

This latest saber-rattling comes in the midst of a well-publicized dispute between Israel and the White House.  White House officials originally felt offended when Israel announced the construction of new settlements in Jerusalem during Vice President Joe Biden’s visit to the country last month.  Since then, relations between the two allies have reportedly been tense, although Netanyahu sat down with Obama for several hours during his visit to the United States.

Israeli newspapers report that Netanyahu will return to Washington next week to attend the Nuclear Security Summit.  No plans have been announced, however, for him to meet with either Obama or Erdogan during that time.  The White House has also not yet commented on Lieberman’s interview.

Blog: WPRB News Returns Fall 2009

Leave a reply

From now through January, catch WPRB News programming every Sunday from 12:00 to 1:00 EST on WPRB Princeton 103.3FM and streaming live at wprb.com. The hour will feature different WPRB News shows on a rotating schedule. This week, tune in for two half-hour interview programs: Taking On @ 12pm EST and Discourse @ 12:30pm EST.

Taking On is a new show, hosted by Aaron Smargon and Nicholas Tagher, that focuses on politics and economics. Their first guest is physician and former Republican Senate Majority leader Bill Frist.

Discourse, entering its fourth season, covers everything from economics to the arts. This week, Princeton Electrical Engineering Professor Paul Prucnal discusses how innovation in the field of fiber optics is shaping the future of digital communication.

Check back here on Sunday at 12pm to listen to both shows.

Tilghman, Alimta, Commencement: Only Half the Story

Princeton’s President praises the lifesaving drug but neglects to mention how the University is seeking to block cheaper generic versions.

By Sebastian Jones

Several weeks ago I wrote an article for our sister publication, the Nassau Weekly, about Princeton’s corporate relationships, the potential problems they present and the fact it is extremely difficult for interested students and faculty to figure out what exactly is going on.

One of the examples I highlighted dealt with Alimta, a lifesaving cancer medicine manufactured by pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly under a license from Princeton University, who owns the patent for the drug’s key component. As I noted in the story, Alimta can be rather expensive– up to $11,000 a month– and while some patients are hoping for a cheaper alternative, they will have to wait longer because Eli Lilly and Princeton have filed a series of suits in federal court to prevent the production of a generic version. If these cheaper alternatives enter the market, Princeton and Eli Lilly claim they “will be substantially and irreparably damaged.”

Eli Lilly’s motivations and those of the generic drug companies involved are evident: they out to make a profit. But what is Princeton University, a non-profit institution of higher learning fond of saying it acts in the nation’s service, doing in the midst of the controversial fight over the price and accessibility of pharmaceuticals and the production of generics? Follow the money:

Eli Lilly has told the SEC their arrangement with Princeton ensures the university a “single-digit percentage” cut of the sales of the drug in exchange for exclusive license to produce Alimta. Net sales for the drug topped 1.15 billion in 2008, meaning Princeton scooped up somewhere between roughly $11 and $104 million from their partnership with Eli Lilly. Beyond the licensing agreement, Eli Lilly has given the University $500,000 for an endowed graduate fellowship.

Continue reading →

Discourse Series Premier: Marriage, Law, and American Society

Leave a reply

This Sunday, April 5, at 12:00 pm EST, tune in for the first part of a new interview series on Discourse: Marriage, Law, and American Society.  In Part I: the Mormons and Marriage, producer Sophie Jin sits down with Slate contributor and Princeton History Department Lecturer Neil J. Young to discuss Proposition 8 and the American legacy of Mormon political involvement.

After the broadcast, check back here to download the program and listen to web extras not included in the episode.

Then, at 12:30 pm EST catch a second episode of Discourse: a conversation with physicist and writer Tony Rothman on what Japanese traditions of geometry and spirituality can tell us about the relationship between East and West.  Rothman reads from his latest book on the subject, Sacred Mathematics.

"Frightening" Investment Strategies Hit Harvard

By Sebastian Jones
WPRB News

The Harvard Crimson published a very interesting story a few days ago about Iris Mack, an analyst at the Harvard Management Company who brought attention to “frightening” trades involving derivatives via e-mails to the office of the university’s then-president, Larry Summers.  Like many other whistleblowers, Mack was promptly fired:

In an e-mail sent May 30, 2002 to Marne Levine, chief of staff for then-Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers, Mack detailed her concerns regarding what she deemed HMC’s “frightening” usage of derivatives and statistical modeling techniques, as well as the Company’s lack of a timely and portfolio-wide risk management system, high employee turnover rate, and low level of productivity in the workplace, specifically among managers…

Mack, a derivatives researcher for Enron before coming to HMC, says she was “shocked” by the mishandling and ignorance of derivatives at the HMC international equities division where she worked, led by Jeffrey B. Larson. At the time, Mack says, Larson’s group had only recently begun exploring more sophisticated financial instruments such as credit default swaps and capital structure arbitrage.

Larson left his job at Harvard in 2004 to start his own hedge fund, Sowood Capital Management, with $500 million worth of seed money courtesy of the university. What happened next?

Sowood collapsed in 2007 due to heavily leveraged investments in corporate debt—making national headlines as one of the first high-profile hedge fund implosions of the subprime mortgage crisis—costing Harvard $350 million.

Oops.

More broadly, that a university– not an investment bank or insurance giant– was fiddling around in credit default swaps up until very recently bears some serious consideration. Also worth thinking about: the $17,256,161 that Larson pulled in during FY2003 and the $35,099,300 that Maurice Samuels, a Senior Vice President for the Harvard Management Company, netted that same year, according to tax records. While salaries for HMC employees have dropped to less astronomical levels since 2004, some still rake in millions.  Here at Princeton, the three highest compensated employees all work for the Princeton Investment Company and a list of other educational institutions where the top earners are investment managers would be long.

A few years ago, when the money was pouring in, all of this might have been unsettling but excusable and perhaps that’s why Larry Summers apparently was not too interested in hearing about the trouble at HMC.  Today, however, with endowment losses at Harvard and Princeton both estimated to end up around 30%, it might be time to rethink how universities manage their billions while injecting a little transparency into the process.  Not that I’d get my hopes up.

–
TPMMuckraker has a post up on the Mack story.

From DNA to AIG; Abraham Lincoln Resurrected

WPRB News returns today, Sunday, March 29th, with a double edition of Discourse:

At 12:00 pm, WPRB correspondent Yihe Dong speaks with philosopher Daniel Cloud about the links between human evolution and everything from crisis in Russia to America’s economic crisis. Cloud is the Cotsen Postdoctoral Fellow at Princeton University.

Then, at 12:30 pm, News Director Nikki Leon sits down with Civil War historian James M. McPherson to discuss the life of Abraham Lincoln, McPherson’s latest biography of the late President, and the frenzy that has surrounded the bicentennial of Lincoln’s birth. McPherson is George Henry Davis ’86 Professor Emeritus of United States History at Princeton University, and has received the Pulitzer Prize for his Civil War history, Battle Cry of Freedom. (Originally aired Febrary 22, 2009)

Next week, from 12-12:30, WPRB News will debut the first in a two-part series on American Law, Marriage, and Proposition 8. Then, at 12:30, Tony Rothman will speak about his latest book, Sacred Mathematics, a history of Japanese mathematicians and Buddhist temples.

On the Air: Science at Princeton

This Sunday, March 8, The Dispatch turns to the sciences at Princeton University:

Alfred Miller speaks with leading synthetic biologist Prof. Ron Weiss on “programming bacteria.”

Nikki Leon interviews Dr. Roberta Hotinski, of the Princeton Environmental Institute, about the ways in which scientists are educating business leaders and the greater public about climate change.

Discourse will not air this week, due to a Sports broadcast beginning at 12:40.