Chain Reaction 2015 Benefitting Ploughshares Fund

Ploughshares Fund will host its annual gala evening, Chain Reaction 2015, on Monday, June 8, 2015 at The Open Square at Futures Without Violence in the Presidio, San Francisco. With the Iran nuclear deal front and center in the news, the evening will feature a timely discussion about nuclear threats over the past 70 years and how to resolve conflicts, reduce threats and retire the bomb. The evening will feature a pre-program reception and bring together experts in the field, including General James E. Cartwright, former Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and former commander of the US nuclear forces who has a unique insider view into the threats posed by a nuclear arsenal; Reza Aslan, the bestselling author of Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth and No God But God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam; and Barbara Slavin, a Ploughshares Fund grantee, author, journalist and Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council and noted expert in Middle East issues.
"In periods of heightened tensions and reduced decision times, the likelihood of human and technical error in control systems increases," said General James E. Cartwright, former Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. "Launch-on-warning is a relic of Cold War strategy whose risk today far exceeds its value. Our leaders urgently need to talk and, we hope, agree to scrap this obsolete protocol before a devastating error occurs." "The historic agreement reached with Iran could potentially, for the first time, put that country's nuclear program in an iron box with a camera on it," said Joe Cirincione, President of Ploughshares Fund. "We are delighted to bring our guest speakers together in a discussion that explores the broader context of these issues and why it is so important to seize this opportunity with Iran."
In addition, the evening will feature a special interactive pop-up exhibit from N Square. The special one-night-only exhibit explores how 21st-century innovation can accelerate progress toward the eventual elimination of nuclear weapons. A new initiative sponsored by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, Ploughshares Fund, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and Skoll Global Threats Fund, N Square was created to catalyze innovation that moves the world toward disarmament while improving global safety and security in the meantime.
Since 1981, Ploughshares Fund has led and invested in initiatives to reduce and ultimately eliminate the world's nuclear threats and to promote stability in regions of conflict.