What Russia's invasion of Ukraine means for the future of war, diplomacy and nuclear risks.
Join our partners at Hollywood, Health & Society for a discussion with experts about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the storytelling opportunities that reflect this new world. Topics will include the threat of nuclear war, avoiding another Chernobyl, chemical and biological threats, cyber warfare, and 21st-century diplomacy.
Meet the Panelists
DAVID GRAE (moderator)—David Grae was an executive producer and writer on the CBS political drama MADAM SECRETARY. He started his television career as a staff writer on the Emmy-nominated JOAN OF ARCADIA. He has been a writer on Without a Trace, Gilmore Girls and Castle. He won the 2018 Sentinel Award with MADAM SECRETARY creator/showrunner Barbara Hall for the exemplary portrayal of nuclear threats—and solutions—in the season four finale episode “Night Watch.” He is also the co-founder of Gotham Writers Workshop.
JOAN ROHLFING—Joan Rohlfing is president and COO of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a nonprofit, nonpartisan global security organization focused on reducing nuclear and biological threats imperiling humanity. In an era when the likelihood of use of weapons of mass destruction by individuals, terrorist organizations, and states is growing, NTI has done everything from securing 2 ½ bombs’ worth of highly enriched uranium from war-torn Serbia to producing the docudrama Last Best Chance with Fred Thompson that aired on HBO. Before joining NTI, Joan held senior positions in the U.S. Department of Energy and worked as an advisor to the U.S. ambassador to India in the wake of nuclear tests in India and Pakistan. Earlier in her career, she oversaw nuclear weapons policy and acquisition programs at the Department of Defense and the Armed Services Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives. Her thinking on nuclear security has been shaped by 35 years working in this field, and she’s worked on this from all angles — from a military, a diplomatic, a political, a technical, and an academic perspective.
DAVID E. HOFFMAN—David E. Hoffman is a contributing editor to The Washington Post. He joined the newspaper in 1982, and covered the presidencies of Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. He was later diplomatic correspondent, and the newspaper’s bureau chief in Jerusalem and Moscow, then foreign editor and assistant managing editor for foreign news. He is the author of The Oligarchs: Wealth and Power in the New Russia; The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and Its Dangerous Legacy, which won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction; The Billion Dollar Spy: A True Story of Cold War Espionage and Betrayal; and Give Me Liberty: The True Story of Oswaldo Payá and His Daring Quest for a Free Cuba, publishing June 21. Hoffman has also been a correspondent for FRONTLINE, the flagship PBS investigative television series.
More panelists will be announced on the HHS event page.
