Los Alamos National Laboratory director joins Vail Symposium for a discussion on the changing nuclear landscape

On Wednesday at Vail Interfaith Chapel, Vail Symposium welcomes the former director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory Dr. Siegfried Hecker to talk about nuclear weapons and their potential impact.

“This is a rare opportunity to hear from and interact with someone who has seen first-hand the nuclear programs of our most prominent adversaries on the geopolitical stage,” said Vail Symposium Executive Director James Kenly.

Dr. Siegfried Hecker was the fifth director at the Los Alamos National Laboratory and is an internationally recognized expert in plutonium science, global threat reduction and nuclear security. Hecker’s interests include nuclear nonproliferation and arms control, nuclear weapons policy, nuclear security, the safe and secure expansion of nuclear energy and plutonium science. At the end of the Cold War, he fostered cooperation with the Russian nuclear laboratories to secure and safeguard the vast stockpile of ex-Soviet fissile materials.

Between 2004 and 2010, Hecker made seven trips to North Korea to get an inside look at their nuclear weapon capability. He is currently a Professor of Practice in the Department of Nuclear Engineering at Texas A&M, Professor Emeritus at Stanford University and a Distinguished Faculty Fellow at the Center for Nuclear Security Science and Policy Initiatives. He was awarded the Enrico Fermi Award in 2009 and was named Great Immigrant/Great American by the Carnegie Corporation in 2022.

With his expertise in nuclear security, Hecker shares his insights on the new Russia-North Korea relationship and the destabilization in the global nuclear order resulting from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, giving a wide view of the changing nuclear landscape. Will Putin use nuclear weapons? What is North Korea’s capacity? What about China or Iran? for a fascinating look at the history and current status of the global nuclear order.