Thomas Ramos - The Importance of Capturing History to Inform Current Threats

NucleCast

In this episode of NucleCast, Adam interviews Tom Ramos, a physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Lab, about the relevance of the early years of the Cold War to today's national security challenges. They discuss the lessons learned from the past and how they can inform our approach to handling current threats from Russia and China. They emphasize the importance of capturing and memorializing the history of this period and the need for strong policy analysts and integrated collaboration between the military, think tanks, and scientists. They also highlight the need for a sense of urgency and recognition of the serious threats we face.

For the past 40 years, Tom Ramos has been a physicist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, where he was a member of the nuclear team that developed the X-ray Laser for President Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative. He later supported US/USSR arms control negotiations for START and over a span of seventeen years he created and ran a program for the Department of Defense called CAPS.

Ramos, who graduated from West Point, commanded combat engineers before entering MIT to earn a degree in high energy physics.

His most recent venture was writing a book titled “From Berkeley to Berlin: How the Rad Lab Helped Avert Nuclear War,” which focuses on how the United States had the ability to stand up to Nikita Khrushchev, former leader of the Soviet Union, and his attempts to expand Soviet influence around the globe. The book brings individuals alive, especially those at Livermore, who played important roles in making the country safe during the Cold War.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Background

02:02 Relevance of the Early Cold War to Today's Challenges

06:41 Lessons from the Kennedy Era

08:09 Challenges of Nuclear Superiority and Modernization

11:26 The Need for Collaboration and Integration

21:30 Advice for Present Leadership

23:15 The Importance of History and Lessons Learned

28:13 Conclusion and Three Wishes

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