(Posted April 8, 2002)

HUNTINGDON, Pa. -- An expert on ballistic missile defense systems will speak on "National Missile Defense: Promise or Peril?" at Juniata College in a public lecture at 8 p.m. April 12 in Alumni Hall in the Brumbaugh Science Center on the Juniata campus.

Lisbeth Gronlund, senior staff scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists in Cambridge, Mass., and a research fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has extensively researched the technical issues related to ballistic missile defenses. She also has written extensively on such issues as ballistic missile proliferation, fissionable materials control and nuclear arms control.

Gronlund also will give a more technical lecture, "National Missile Defense: Will It Work? How Will We Know?" at 4 p.m. April 12 in Alumni Hall

Both lectures are free and open to the public.

The "Promise or Peril" lecture will focus on the current status of the U.S. missile defense program, along with its potential security costs and benefits. In addition Gronlund will outline the military and political effectiveness of a U.S. national missile defense.

The technical lecture earlier in the day will center on whether national missile defense programs will work under real-world conditions and how other nations might take steps to defeat such a system.

Gronlund has written on national defense issues in such publications as Foreign Policy, Nature, Technology Review, and Arms Control Today. She also serves on the Panel on Public Affairs of the American Physical Society and on the board of directors of the educational Foundation for Nuclear Science.

Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.