From the 24th to the 27th of January 2004, Sveinung Larsen and I attended a conference in Washington DC. The conference was arranged by NPRI (Nuclear Policy Research Institute) and was called Three Minutes to Midnight: The Impending Threat of Nuclear War. Our main objective was to try to promote interest in NWIP among American students, and hopefully make some contacts for our future work. The conference was very interesting with many prominent speakers not only from America, but from Russia and Pakistan as well. They had different backgrounds and opinions on some of the issues of course but this led to interesting discussions. Having former Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara in the audience asking questions, also brought forward important arguments.

 
Our main objective, to meet fellow students, was affected by the fact that there were not too many attending the conference. However, the young people I did talk to all seemed quite enthusiastic about NWIP. They represented four different universities and the fact that they attended this conference showed us they have interest in these issues. Unfortunately, NWIPs contact network in the U.S. has not been active lately, so we have not been able to nourish the links with these students. But, when we do get the “US ball” rolling, I feel that we will have some good opportunities for students in the Washington D.C. area.