Washington D.C., Jul 30, 2009 / 17:03 pm
Experts from around the country gathered at the U.S. Strategic Command on Offutt Air Force Base to participate in the first nuclear weapons Deterrence Symposium. Archbishop Edwin O'Brien delivered the keynote address at the summit and said that terrorism shows the U.S. must "move beyond nuclear deterrence as rapidly as possible."
The symposium, which was held in Omaha, Nebraska, brought together academic, government, military and international experts to explore the full range of deterrence thinking.
Drawing on his experience as the former Archbishop for Military Services and his current position on the Committee on International Justice and Peace of the U.S. Bishops' Conference, Archbishop O'Brien urged the world and its leaders to "stay focused on the destination of a nuclear-weapons-free world and on the concrete steps that lead there."
In his talk, Archbishop O’Brien drew on longstanding Catholic teaching that nuclear deterrence is only acceptable to prevent others from using nuclear weapons and as a step along a path to a world without nuclear weapons. Among his sources for this teaching were the Second Vatican Council, Pope John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI and the U.S. bishops.